Letters From Home

As I write this, I am 9,000 miles from home. When I think about the distance sometimes it can make me pretty homesick. Some days here are very challenging and make me miss the comforts that America has to offer. Many days I find myself missing my friends and family who are across the ocean. 

While I was packing to come here, Heather, my big sister, informed me that I needed to save a few pounds and space in my suitcase for something she was working on. As we approached my departure date, I began nagging her to give me whatever it was she had for me so that I could put the finishing touches on my suitcase. What she finally handed me was more than I could have ever imagined. She had contacted many friends and family members asking them to write me letters. What she handed me was 6 pounds of letters and cards.

I was so overwhelmed by the amount of love that had gone into making all of those letters and cards, but at that point I didn’t have the slightest idea how much those cards would help me. Some of the cards were blank, which meant I could open them any time I wanted. Some were marked for specific days (my birthday, Halloween, the first rainy day, the first day of school, etc.). Others were labeled to be opened when I was having a bad day, or was missing home, or was feeling overwhelmed. 

These cards and letters became an instant cure to any sadness or homesickness. They have been an inspiration for me and have reminded me why I felt so called to come here. They have made me smile when I am having a bad day. They are also a constant reminder of all the love and support I receive daily from so many people back home.

It is not only the letters that I carried over with me, but I also continued to be so encouraged by all the emails, Facebook messages, and messages left on my blog. I want you to know that I take the time to read each and every comment and they always put a smile on my face and lift me up. I am thankful to be sharing this journey with each and every one of you. 

I have had many people ask me if I can receive mail here. The short answer is, yes. The longer answer is although yes, mail will eventually find its way to me, mail here takes the phrase “snail mail” to a whole new level. It takes about a month for a letter to reach me here in Malawi. That being said please don’t let that stop you from sending mail my direction. Thank you so much for your kind words of encouragement throughout this journey; it is not the easiest thing I have ever done, but with the support of all of you, and through God, all things are possible. Please keep sending messages and prayers to the Warm Heart of Africa. 

Address:

Brooke Merry

c/o SAMSS PO Box 396

Mulanje, Malawi

Central Africa

Cornerstones

Every strong building has a cornerstone. The cornerstone is the thing that provides stability to the entire building. Cornerstones are such a key element in building that my home state, Pennsylvania, is called the Keystone State! Recently I have been taking more notice of the piles of bricks all around Malawi. I started to think about how these bricks represent so much about Malawi, including the education system I am now working in. 

Bricks here in Malawi are handmade. There is no automatic machine that produces them by the truck load. Every brick that is produced is the product of the blood, sweat and tears that went into it. Similarly with education, there is no home school or cyber school option here. Kids must be in a classroom in order to learn. Educators pour their blood, sweat and tears into giving their students the best education they can provide. 

The bricks are made from the soil of the surrounding area where the building is to be constructed. This isn’t a problem, unless the soil in the area you want to build isn’t good for making bricks. Comparatively, what is a child in Malawi expected to do if there is no local school within a reasonable walking distance of their village? In the US school districts spend tons of money transporting students to school, but here, if there is no school nearby, there is no schooling. No good soil, no bricks. No school, no education. I am thankful to be working at a school that was built in an area that needed a good quality secondary school. 

After the bricks are constructed they are left in the sun to dry. If the brick was not constructed in the proper way, or if the materials used were not mixed properly, it is at this point the bricks will crumble. I wish I did not hear about students’ education crumbling due to measures they cannot control. Some of the events that can contribute to the breakup of their education are: a death in the family, illness, or lack of funds for uniforms or school supplies. Any education that is left to crumble due to elements outside of the student’s control is a tragedy that I hope someday is no longer an issue. Another problem here is getting the proper materials needed to teach. I have seen school houses that are simply a thatched roof with children sitting under it. How can students succeed without the proper materials they need to learn? Many schools have just a few textbooks and desks or benches, no workbooks, paper, pens, pencils and no computers, projectors or electricity. It seems to me that many schools are like a building that has a "brick cornerstone" that is built without the proper mix of materials, and is sure to fall apart. 

Once the handmade bricks here are dried they are piled and covered in mud to be fired like pottery in a kiln. The bricks are again put to the test. The strongest bricks will survive the firing and the weaker bricks will crack. In the Malawi education system, in order to advance to the next step of schooling a student must pass exams. If the exam is not passed, the student has two options, redo the previous year and sit for exams again (which sometimes isn't financially or realistically an option) or drop out. The other realistic part of the educational system in Malawi is that there are simply not enough universities or scholarships to support all the students that wish to attend. Therefore only the absolute best of the best are chosen to advance to University level education, leaving the rest behind. 

Making bricks is back breaking, hard work. Education is not something that is simple or easy in Malawi. There are obstacles and sometimes factors that cannot be controlled. But the beautiful thing about Malawi is that even though it isn’t easy, the students and brick makers continue to persevere. Students continue to walk miles and miles to get to school. Teachers use whatever they can in order to get the material across to the students. Communities come together to support students who are struggling. And just like the bricks that they work so hard for, they use them to BUILD something great. They become cornerstones made out of the most unlikely circumstances. 

Education is a lot like building bricks here. It’s not easy. Sometimes the materials are not exactly what you need. Even if you do everything right there are still cracks in the system. But at the end of the day, the students of Malawi are the cornerstones for this developing nation moving forward. Please continue to pray for them as they build themselves as high as they can go.

Show Me the Kwatcha

I spent months raising donations to come to Malawi. There were countless hours of trying to figure out how much I would need in order to spend a year living in this country. Now that I am here and settled into my daily life, I would like to take a moment and show you what the money I raised is going toward.

Some basic information to start with: the currency here is the Malawian Kwatcha. The Kwatcha is produced in 5s, 10s, 20s, 50s, 100s, 200s, 500s, 1000s, and 2000s. The exchange rate for the Kwatcha and the U.S. Dollar as I write this blog is about 730 Kwatcha for every dollar. Some quick math will show you, that means the largest bill here is the equivalent of about $2.75. Because of this, we are constantly carrying around large wads of money, not because we are rich, but simply because everything we pay for we use cash, and you need a lot of bills to purchase bigger items.  I have yet to use or even see somewhere I could use a credit card here in Malawi.

The money that I raised not only supports me, but it allows us to employ multiple people to work for us. This might sound strange to you, so let me explain. In this culture if you can afford to have others work for you, you do. By hiring someone to work for you, you have given them a job and a way to provide for their families. We employ a young woman, Verah, who helps us with things around the house, and multiple guards at night to protect our house. 

After we consulted with our Malawian advisors, we were told to pay Verah who works with us every day, 30,000 Kwatcha (about $41) a month. They also advised us to pay our guards (which we also share with the headmaster and his family) 18,000 Kwatcha (about $25) a month. When they first told us these figures, I thought they were joking. That amount was not even close to what these people deserve. They explained to us this was a VERY good amount, as most Malawians make about half of this, if not less, a month. All of the people we employ seem to love working with us and continue to tell us how happy they are, so our advisors were right, and we are very thankful and blessed to be working with these people.

Our other big expenses are food, gas and internet. Buying food here is interesting because things that would be more expensive in the states seem to be what is cheaper here. Things like fresh vegetables and eggs are so inexpensive because they are all grown locally. However anything that has been imported from another country is outrageously expensive. At the market the other day we got: a head of lettuce, a head of cabbage, 12 tomatoes, 4 green peppers, 6 carrots, 4 onions, a huge bunch of green beans, 4 cucumbers, and a pound of dried kidney beans for 3,000 Kwatcha (about $4). The same day we went to the grocery store and got some meat, soy sauce, and a couple household things, and ended up paying close to $40. Needless to say, we will be eating a lot of fresh vegetables this year!

Gas is currently 1,130 Kwatcha per liter. If you compare this to the price of gas in the States, it is very expensive. This is another reason driving is so unrealistic for most Malawians. Another big ticket item we pay for monthly here is internet. We use the internet for about an hour a day to talk to our families, upload pictures and of course post blogs! To us this expense is worth every Kwatcha for the ability to stay connected to home.

I am thankful for every Kwatcha that I am able to spend. Not just because I am fortunate enough to have the money, but also because I am loved and supported by so many people back home who gave me the opportunity to be here. Please continue to pray for the people without enough Kwatcha today, and be extra thankful and generous with the blessings of every dollar in your pocket.