When we first arrived in Malawi we were taken to a place called Dedza. Dedza is not like most of Malawi. It is mountainous and very very cold (considering misconceptions of what African weather should be like). But nevertheless, we stayed here during our first 2 months here in Malawi. We lived with a host family in the village for a month and in between that time stayed at a Forestry College. Then after swearing in, we all left for our site finishing what is called PST ( Pre-service Training). Now 6 months later in country ( wow can’t believe it’s been 6 months, time flies here) we are back at college for our IST ( Introduction Service Training) we love our acronyms! On one of the first mornings we all climbed to the top of a small mountain to watch the sun rise. Around here there are wild dogs that live mostly off our leftover food. There is one who is the leader of the pack called ‘snail butt’ there are two reason for this: one his tail curls like a snail and two yes your right he has a parasite. But regardless he is healthy and a good dog. Every time we go up the mountain he accompanies us to the top. He doesn’t really know us that much but knows that we are different from the others. Most Malawians are not always nice to dogs ( this is not to say that some Malawians have dogs as pets and treat them very nicely) but there is a reason for this. Sometimes they become rabid and attack people so I get why there is a slight fear of animals. But anyways, we get to the top of this mountain and watch the sun rise over the mountainous, tree rich, cool area of Malawi. I remember thinking for the first time that pine trees was not what I envisioned in Africa. When the British came to Malawi they wanted trees for building houses and the like that were straight. Because Dedza has a cool climate pine trees grew here successfully and are now very common. But regardless it is beautiful here and partly because it was our first home here. I went back to see my host family and they were excited. My little sister just started Secondary School which is like high school in America. This is a big deal for girls as a lot of times get married young and don’t finish school. As incentive I decided to pay half of her school fees to encourage her to take school seriously. My little brother had Malaria some time back and lost a lot of weight. I here these stories everyday of someone getting Malaria, getting married young, parents dying leaving orphans and other common diseases here. They seem real to you until someone you know is effected and then you feel a slight feeling of guilt. I know that I didn’t come here to save all of Malawi or the world for that case. But it’s not to say that I don’t take this job very seriously to not end all morbidity or moralities, but to maybe, hopefully lessen the suffering of the average Malawian especially the children. I had a dream last night that I was back in America in my mom’s home. I had all the modern conveniences that I was used to back in the states. It was funny because the whole time I felt uncomfortable. It was always interesting to me once I realized how the majority of the world was living as a child that I felt this feeling of guilt. Like why did God choose me to be the lucky one who would get to live in a developing country with less suffering ( I’m talking health, infrastructure and human rights). But I also didn’t take it lightly. Time to do some work!