I arrived in Lilongwe yesterday after many hours of travel, and it was nice to feel settled in one place for a while, even if it's only for the few days I'm scheduled to be in Lilongwe before heading out to the Karonga district.
I was a bit disheartened last night when I couldn't get the new SIM card to work in my phone and nobody was selling internet access cards on Sunday, which just goes to show how dependent I've become on the internet to be connected to others. Since there wasn't anything I could do to let people know I had arrived safely, I was able to relax with a book for a while, which was nice. My body clock is still a bit off, but nothing a little coffee can't help fix for the time being.
The parts of Malawi I have seen thus far are beautiful! Even in Lilongwe the landscape is lush and green - a welcome change from snowy Boston. From what I've been told, the Karonga district where I'm heading is even more beautiful, so I'm looking forward to that.
Today being my first day in the MSH office, I was just introduced to the staff and will have program briefs and other meetings today. Everyone here is extremely friendly and welcoming, so I'm feeling at ease and excited to refine the scope of my work. I'll be assisting the project in evaluating training they have provided to community based distribution agents who give family planning and HIV counseling and referrals. Program plans have changed a bit since we first discussed my scope, so we'll be tweaking the tools I've developed a bit, but the aim will still be to gather information on how CBDAs are referring and counseling individuals, recording data, and involving youth in family planning activities. The program is very interesting and I'm realizing now just how quickly the four weeks will fly by!
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