Preparing for Malawi

Well, time is running and my "to do list" is still quite long. The good news is that my flights to Malawi have been confirmed and I will be flying out on the 4th of February. So there is less than 3 weeks to go which at times brings a slight "panic related feelings" but calms down fast after realizing that 3 weeks is plenty of time to get everything sorted out.

Autumn time passed fast with all the training we had to do with VSO. It seemed a lot in the beginning and I was wondering how am I going to survive all those studies both in England and online. If you come with an academic background it must be not that bad at all. But if you come with less studying background like I did it really seems like a whole lot of work to do, with lots of paper work, lots of big issues packed with big words! But now when I look back at it all it's been amazing times, have learned so much, enjoyed the conversations with other volunteers and had so much fun too! And I am happy that the continues learning will go on also after I arrive to Malawi.

So everyone, I will keep you updated on what's going on through my blog mainly. Any VSO volunteers in anywhere in the world, I would be happy to get in touch with you also so send me your blog address if you're writing one.

It's snowing outside... how glad am I to travel to the warm heart of Africa soon, just guess.. :)

Comments

Sometimes pictures tell more than words

Training farmers about heat detection. I was told here that every 9 cows out of 10 are not giving any signs of heat and are on silent heat.. We all know that´s not possible. So we went through the signs again and reminded the farmers that heat detection is one of the most important works in their farms. No calves, no milk. Introducing a very simple and easy to use "heat calender" for the same group of farmers that were getting the training about heat detection. That´s my pilot group working with this calender. I am looking forward for the feedback on it´s usage and later will introduce it to more farmers if it seems to work out well. The only problem is that not all farmers are able to read, especially the elderly farmers so this comes out handy only for those who are able to read. Teaching our community animal health worker to crab a cow for deworming. With these Malawian cows you need to really strong!! No matter how small jerseys they are. Must sa...

good morning and welcome

so I've finally decided to open my own blog, I try my best to keep it updated. This time I'm still in Finland, but soon I will start a new journey. The summer has been great, I'm glad I came home to spend it with my friends and family. I went away for one month, but that time was really good for me, I took a deep look inside myself and got many answers, learned a lot about myself. Now I feel the cold wind blowing so I think it's time to move away from the winter and find some sun :) but it still takes some time, hopefully i can go on september.

Smiles and losses

The weekend has been just great! I´ve been out a lot to see Mzuzu, getting to know new people and I´ve really enjoyed it. People are friendly and happy, they smile a lot and smile is always good for you. I think we should smile much more at home, we often let little things bother us too much. Nightlife is all about dancing and I must say it´s a very good exercise to do. Today I read the news from Tohmajärvi, Finland where a cowhouse was on fire and 40 cows died. It´s terrible, no one should have to face such tragedy. It also brought my thoughts to a farmer whom I went to see on Friday. She had one cow, her livelihood is pretty much depending on that one cow. The cow was a nice jersey cow, she had well kept “khola” (the “cowhouse”, will get you pictures later). Everything seemed to be in good order. Unfortunately the cow had been sick for a month now and on Friday morning it had died. It had been treated 3 times during the sickness but there is continues shortage on animal drugs. ...

Mikä Malawi

Search This Blog