Well, I made it! After the LONGEST day of travel I made it to the PPB house safely. Malawi is so beautiful, and so so green! I was able to stay up until 9pm, in hopes to eliminate jet lag. We will see how that goes, but so far so good! It is my first morning here, and I woke up wide awake at 6am. Maybe Africa will turn me into a morning person? 🙂 Our house here is huge, and is gated/guarded at all times. Our accommodations are way better than I expected, so that was a pleasant surprise! I took today off from clinic to get adjusted, but will start going to clinics tomorrow. I met some very kind people on my journey, in particular the South African who helped me navigate the Johannesburg airport and offered to let me use his chargers since I did not pack the “European” adapter that would have worked in Zurich and Johannesburg. I also had an interesting conversation with a man from Botswana, where we talked about the American vs. African culture. Essentially reinforcing the research I did for my senior project, he expressed confusion over the American ideals because in Africa, being large (body size and composition) is considered a sign of wealth, power, beauty, etc. I thought it was fascinating coming from someone who lives that culture. He did not understand the fact that our obesity epidemic stems from diet, but also from sedentary lifestyles. Even though the African people may be larger, they are constantly exercising due to the nature of their lifestyle, walking, carrying heavy things, etc. etc. The disease states of obesity don’t seem to be the same between the two cultures, so it was interesting to hash that out with him and hear his perspective and observations of the American culture. Besides that, I am one of two American volunteers, the other being from St. Louis. My roommate is from the UK, and the other volunteers are from the Netherlands and Germany. So far no mosquito bites yay!
Project Postgrad 