This is Africa: Solar Dehydrators, Showers, and Beaches

One of the NuSkin employees told us a story last week. He described an experience from his first trip to Malawi, where he was on a bus headed to Zambia. Visas for Americans expire after thirty days so it is often easier just to leave the country and then comeback rather than renew. On his trip, the bus was overbooked and there were about fifteen more people than seats. Like many other Third World countries, some of the hygiene of other passengers was offensive to his American sensibilities. The bus eventually overheated and broke down. A journey that should have taken eight hours ended up taking seventeen. He was frustrated and tired, but as he sat the woman sitting next to him slowly fell asleep on his shoulder. Another American intern also nodded off and rested her head on his other shoulder. He stopped and thought about everything occurring around him. There was a strange beauty around it. He changed his perspective of his current situation and firmly stated, “This is Africa.”

I share this story because “This is Africa” has become the motto of all of us interns. The water doesn’t always work, the internet (although surprisingly available in rural Africa) will crash, plans fall through, and miscommunication abounds. There would be a lot of things to be frustrated about if one had the wrong perspective. We knew that Africa wasn’t going to be like the United States when we decided to take this internship and there really isn’t any point in getting upset that it is different. 

Solar dehydrator

Everything that has happened since my last post has been great. We have been able to prepare the solar dehydrators for use in about a quarter of the time that I thought it would take. In case you aren’t a food scientist, a solar dehydrator concentrates heat from the sun (black spray paint is super good at this) and heats the air around a sample of food. As the hot, dry air flows over the food, it removes some of the moisture. Leave food in there for a few days and you’ll end up with some really tasty dried fruits and veggies. SAFI has three dehydrators and I was able to get them all prepped and ready to go for next week. All I need now are vegetables to start drying and students to teach. Also, the staff wants me to use the dehydrator to make rabbit jerky. I made a deal with them that I would make the rabbit jerky if they taught me how to skin and gut a rabbit (I’ll actually make it no matter what but I think it would be fun to prep the rabbit myself).

We actually play volleyball almost everyday. At first I didn't want to play because my inability to speak Chichewa has been frustrating me, but once we started playing, language really didn't matter. If there is anything that we can't figure out, at least the staff here can translate for us.

I now need to share my true, “This is Africa” moments from this week. The first includes some of the massive spiders here. The SAFI staff promises they aren’t poisonous but if I see anything eight-legged creature as big as my palm, I’m going to assume it doesn’t want to be my friend. I’ve seen them hanging around bathrooms pretty often but when I noticed one in my room, life got interesting. I had an inner debate. “Do I kill it? If so, how?” “Should I befriend it?” “Is it radioactive? Can I date Emma Stone if it bites me?” In the end, I grabbed a bottle of Raid and nearly emptied it on the poor guy. He barely lasted thirty seconds after I sprayed him, but as revenge for his death, he strategically landed directly on my flip-flops. This gave me a little panic attack, so I quickly grabbed my flip-flops, ground them together and crushed my little friend. Once I was convinced that he was thoroughly dead, I went to bed in peace.

One of my shower buddies

I am convinced that my eight-legged friend cursed me, leading to the second “This is Africa” moment. The next morning, I walked into one of the showers and closed the door behind me. I took a very normal shower but by the end, I noticed there was no handle on the door. I had locked myself in the shower. In the dorms at SAFI, nine-foot walls enclose the showers, leaving about a two and a half foot gap from the ceiling. I realized my only means of escape was by scaling the walls in nothing but my sandals and a towel wrapped tightly around my waist. I nearly made the trip over the wall when I realized I had left my shampoo and other toiletries inside so I jumped back down into the shower, threw the things over and started climbing again. The scaling of the wall wouldn’t have been so bad except for how close the ceiling was to the top of the wall. I ended up scraping both the back of my neck and my butt pretty hard on the top of that concrete wall. I made it out of the shower, still naked, but I felt more like a man.

Tropical Beach? In Malawi? Yeah, they exist

Friday, we enjoyed a trip to Lake Malawi. The tropical surroundings make you forget you are in Central Africa, and you feel like you are on a tropical beach. The water was mostly clear and cool. This led to quite a bit of beach fun. Probably the most entertaining thing was teaching our driver, Kelvin, how to snorkel. Using a snorkel seems so normal to us Americans but he found it to be the most incredible experience to see the lake through the goggles and be able to breath with his head underwater. It was so much fun, even when we found out that a light was left on and the car battery was dead. It took about an hour to find some one to jump our engine but we ended up getting to Lilongwe intact but exhausted.

Week one of my three-month adventure is already over. I am excited to keep working with the SAFI staff and students and hopefully, we can continue to have as much fun as we did this past week.

“Azungu! Azungu! Azungu! AZUNGU!!!!”

Azungu means “white person” in Chichewa, the most commonly spoken native language in Malawi. Although I arrived here in Malawi on Friday, Sunday afternoon we finally arrived and the School of Agriculture for Family Independence, or SAFI, for short. Friday and Saturday were pretty easy, laid back days. We stayed at a really nice and fun hostel in Lilongwe, the capital of Malawi. We were able to meet some other Americans who are here on a mission trip and quite a few British families spending their holidays in Africa. It was easy to just sit back, explore Lilongwe, and feel mostly at home. We attended church at the local LDS branch in Lilongwe and it was beautiful. The people were so sincere and kind and the missionaries where really happy to see eight white girls… and me too. We had a nice lunch and then we headed for SAFI.

Our SAFI welcoming party

Arriving at SAFI has lead to the strangest mix of emotions. You want to throw me out of my element, just throw me in an environment full of children screaming out words I don’t understand in any language other than English or Spanish. It is not that I don’t like kids (my nephews and niece who is coming soon mean the world to me), but knowing that I am one of the first and only white people these kids have seen/will ever see makes me feel a little like a zoo animal. The song “One of these Things is not like the others” from Sesame Street keeps coming to mind.

Chichewa is a very complex and beautiful language and I can say some key phrases like “Muli Bwangi” (“How are you?”) and “Zikomo” (“Thank you”), but it took me essentially five years to speak Spanish (four years in school and then the entire first year I lived in Chile). Three months isn’t going to be near long enough to actually learn the language everyone speaks here. Luckily, all the staff here at SAFI speaks English and they can get me out of any translation problems I find myself in.

I guess I should explain SAFI a little. The SAFI is a school, funded by NuSkin, a company based out of Provo Utah. SAFI invites thirty families from villages around Malawi to come and learn better practices in many areas related to family independence including fishing, forestry, nutrition, agriculture, and livestock. After 10 months, the families return to their villages and teach the skills they learned to others. After a year, the families officially graduate. The hope is that by allowing the students to practice the skills here on campus, practice them in their homes, and teach others how to do them back in their villages, the families can be a source of change and improve the quality of life for themselves and those around them.

Students raise these chickens in class

My goal while here is to make sure that the students are getting the most out of the crops they grow. This is now starting to seem sort of daunting. Last year’s research, performed by some good friends of mine, revolved around the use of a solar dehydrator that a typical family or village could build. This work was really helpful in helping me plan a way to treat the vegetables grown by students here. Unfortunately, I arrived to find the large dehydrator very broken and the smaller, portable one, in a state that will require at least a day’s worth of work to prepare it for use. I have other ideas of preservation methods to use with the students but I need to actually sit down and discuss what they are currently doing to better understand how I can best fit their needs.  I am questioning if what I planned to do here is what the people here will actually need from me. I am looking for guidance from the other interns, from the staff, and I feel like I am constantly praying for inspiration… or to be struck by lightning. I guess both would be pretty welcome events right now.

A farmer learned how to increase his yields 10 fold

Some of the more fun and interesting adventures I had in the last twenty four hours include finding a frog in the toilet paper roll, teaching the children here how to “the Worm”, and washing nearly two weeks of laundry by hand. The children here play soccer and volleyball almost everyday and it is fun to jump in for a few minutes but I can’t tell if they are laughing because they are having fun or if I am just that white.

Most of this week is actually just to get our bearings here at SAFI. It is actually maize harvesting season so the classes that are normally taught at SAFI are put on hold so the families can harvest the corn, dry it, and move to the warehouse. Most of the interns and I are still just exploring the area and we will start some of our projects later this week once we are a little more familiar with the staff and know where we are most needed. Friday we will head to Lake Malawi and spend the day seeing the sights around there, then head to Lilongwe to spend the weekend there again. I am really excited. My first full day here really has been an adventure but I feel like I am learning more about myself and the amazing people of Malawi a little bit more every second.

"The Climb"

Le Chatau de Chillon

I should quickly mention that the last few days I was in Europe were great. My family took the time to travel around Switzerland where we toured a chocolate factory and a cheese factory just up the street from each other. We explored Geneva and its old city center. We explored the Roman ruins just below street level and once again bought chocolate. We explored not one, but two ancient castles, and walked the streets in Medieval Bern. Also, as a nice little break, we stop by the Bern Switzerland Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, because, let’s face it, when you are LDS (Mormon), traveling abroad, that is just what you do.

Bern Switzerland LDS Temple

I needed to take that second to remember all the fun I had just a few days ago because the last 24 hours have not been so glamorous. Don’t get me wrong; I do not regret deciding to do this internship/study abroad/tour in Africa, but sometimes, traveling just sucks. This sort of traveling isn’t what the great poet, Miley Cyrus, describe as “The Climb” where you are somehow expected to learn something. Save the learning for anywhere except for the airport. This sort of travel is the hot and sticky, “I haven’t bathed or brushed my teeth in over 60 hours”, just get this over kind of traveling. I am that type of guy who gets to the airport with plenty of time to spare because airports and buses stress me out. This stress isn’t necessarily a bad thing because I am always aware of where I am and what is going on, but I do tend to gnaw on my fingernails to the point that they start bleeding. Maybe I should stop that… anyway, here is everything that happened.

Swiss Chocolate!!!

Thursday May 9, my mom and I drove our rental car from Geneva to Paris (about a 6 hour drive) to make it to Charles-de-Gaulle International before our flights left (my mom is taking a few days London, because, let’s be real, she wanted to, and she does what she wants). After we returned our rental car, we realized that we would have about a 20-minute walk just to check in. That would be fine, except when you are carrying almost 80 extra pounds. After lugging everything to check-in and dropping off my bags, the security line was beautifully short, BUT I happened to be randomly selected for a more “extensive” security check. Basically, I had the delightful experience of being felt-up by a 5’2” man of Indian descent.

At this point, I still had my happy travel smile on. I had about and hour and a half or so before my plane boarded, so I sat down and I read (I’m reading Cloud Atlas, I highly recommend it). I was able to enjoy my book for about 30 minutes before two different couples (one Spanish and the other appeared to be Korean) sat on either side of me. Before long, they are not just kissing but full on, body-on-body, thrusting, grunting, slurping, and many other things I would rather not mention. I looked around the terminal and an older couple sitting a few rows away gave me the “for you own good, Get Out Now!” look. I quickly headed to the bathroom to wash away the not-so-dry sex I just witnessed in the middle on an airport terminal.

My flight to Amsterdam boarded without any other major incidents but it was clear that the light rain would delay our flight. Our fifteen-minute delay didn’t seem like much but then before landing, we were informed that we would have to circle around Amsterdam for about 20 minutes and taxi for at least 15, my one and a half hour layover quickly became significantly shorter. Just as a side note, you know you are in trouble when the captain actually tells passengers to run to their next flight. I had to cross what seemed to be the entire airport, cursing at every turn to find a new security line or sign telling me my gate was just around the next turn (when you’re late, nothing is ever just around the corner).

 I boarded the plane headed to Nairobi to find it only two-thirds full, which was great because I needed to relax. The flight start out okay, an eight-hour flight is child’s play. Then, suddenly, the entertainment system cut out. All the sudden, everyone on board was forced to talk to each other. I normally wouldn’t complain about this except in the seat across the aisle from me were two very talkative people very close to my age. I will share a secret and admit that I dislike people my age. I associate with them often. From a distance they are great, but eight-hours is a long to listen to a very loud German young adult and a very sweet, innocent, “progressive” girl from Georgia discuss American politics. Thankfully, I found a way to sleep through about 3 of the 8 hours but burying my nose in my book is really the only way I survived the moments I could force myself into a slumber. It also appeared that they are planning to “multiply and replenish the Earth” (that means they also want to “knock boots”, “Prego her Eggo”, etc.) during their stay in Kenya. I mean, they have now known each other for 8 hours so that is totally kosher, right? It is funny that the vast majority of my travel today has emphasized how much I don’t understand about the way other people approach relationships. Anyway, that will have to be a different post.

My little cabin until Sunday!

I have never been so grateful for a crappy airport. The air conditioning worked and I could enjoy not being forced to talk to people, which I guess is all that really matters in life. My last flight took me to Malawi (finally). I was actually really surprised when I landed. I knew that I would have to wait for the planes with the other people to arrive but while I waited, the people were so incredibly kind and loving. Even after I turned down a taxi driver’s persistent asking if I needed I ride, we just sat and talked about our cultures. We stopped by the grocery store and picked up some food.  It was fun just to walk up and down the aisle and explore. This definitely feels like where I need to be right now. The journey wasn’t some metaphorical ascension to some deeper knowledge about life, but I think my time here in Malawi might just serve that purpose.

France and Switzerland

Well, I didn't quite stick to my plan of posting something every 3 days I'm sure y'all can forgive me. If you follow my Instragram (@tofumcneil) you already got a chance to see a handful of pictures but I have quite documented my experiences on here yet. 

So, Phase One of this 4 month adventure is over. The week we spent in Paris was your very typical touristy trip to Paris. We saw all the major sites (the Arc du Triomphe, the Eiffel Tower, Versailles (not technically in Paris but who's keeping track), Musee d' Orsay, the Louvre, the Opera, and pretty much all the other standard fare). It was incredible. Paris itself is an amazing, living city. The entire city itself, people included, is a museum. There is so much you can learn and experiencing while just wandering the streets. I would go back in a heartbeat if I could, especially because a week is not long enough to really see everything. The one thing that I wish I had done was bring a friend who speaks French. I might be fluent in Spanish but grumbling to myself in a combination of english, spanish, and what little french I know can really only get you so far. My brother and my sister-in-law tried to learn as much as they could but we often had to keep our fingers crossed that the people we were speaking to knew enough english to make up for our complete inability to communicate in the native language. 

What made this trip even more interesting was traveling with my 2 year old nephew, Luke (I should probably state that the reason why I am here is because I am helping my brother and his wife move to Geneva while my brother does and internship with the World Health Organization). He has travelled so much for only being 2 years old and he now has the entire routine down. He still struggles occasionally (especially during meals) but as long as he is moving, he is just sort of going along for the ride. He loves running up and down stairs and climbing on things. I'm convinced that I worry more about him hurting himself that his parents do. He is a good little guy and has been put into situations that other kids wont experience until they are teenagers. 

So, we are now in Phase Two, which is helping my brother get settled in Geneva, Switzerland. The apartment he is renting for these two months is actually just on the French side of the border because it is way less expensive but will be traveling to the W.H.O. every day. The days now consist of errands in the morning and sightseeing in the evening. It has actually become more work than play now (which is good because I have no idea how my brother and his wife would be able to get everything finished that they need to without us).Yesterday we had the chance to wander around the old city center of Geneva and learn a lot about the history of this part of Europe. We then (after grocery shopping), drove to Chamonix, France where the first Winter Olympics took place. The Alps are incredibly gorgeous and we had one of the top 5 best meals of my entire life. 

This trip really has been incredible so far but I am most excited to be heading to Malawi in just a few days. I mostly feel blessed that I have these opportunities to travel. It can be a little hard at times, especially because it just dawned on me that I absolutely wont be home until August, but the experiences are worth every difficult moment. The world is a big place and I believe that everybody needs to have the chance to explore exotic, new frontiers, but only if it is done with a sense of discovery. The sense of discovery can be turned outward to a degree but it needs to be turned inward if you are truly going to learn anything. The purpose of this sense is to discover who you are and to do things you never imagined were possible before. Yeah, some days will be tough but there will always be something worth learning if you just keep your eyes and mind open.

We survived!!!

I should probably preface this post with the fact that I DO NOT sleep on planes. No matter how hard I try, I am just incapable of getting any significant amount of rest. Actually, my roommates back in Provo can attest to the fact that I need to sleep with blackout curtains in my room. Light creeping through a window at night is one thing but on a plane, no matter what you do, you are constantly bathed in light. The light emitting from the video screens, tablets, phones, and other approved electronic devices becomes a baptism of unnatural, sterile white. That with the constant rumble of the engines, plus the crowded cabin, that no amount of plastic foam earplugs can drown, leads to an uncomfortable night of constantly shifting in your seat. I can generally handle some noise (unless it sounds like someone is getting murdered outside my window, but let’s be real, that doesn’t happen often in Provo), but something about the rumble of an airplane surpasses even the rowdiest nights I experienced living in Chile (they really know how to party). In other words, by the time I post this, I will have been awake for close to 30 straight hours. 

Anyway, you probably aren’t here to listen to me rant. You want to hear about my life (or else you are definitely in the wrong place). The last week flew by. I planned to take all of my finals on the very first day that they were available so I could drive home that Saturday and spend Easter with the family. It ended up being one of my best ideas yet in my short life.

Saturday, I realized that I needed to make sure I had a friend to accompany me with all my travels. I realized that an inflatable alligator/crocodile pool toy I bought last summer would make a great companion. My friend Kristen and I christened him, Sir Philip last June and the name stuck. I plan on taking him with me everywhere this summer. I hope it is cute and fun, not creepy. Either way, it is going to happen.

The rest of the time I was with my parents, it was preparing myself to go to Africa. Some errands were easier than others but late on Thursday, I had everything I needed for both Paris and Malawi. There were a few moments this week where it finally hit me that I would be leaving the country for three and a half months. I really didn’t expect to leave the country for this long again after my two year LDS mission in Chile, but I guess this is actually happening.

It also merits mentioning that I made it to Paris alive and at least physically well (mentally is still in question). I am going to have to re-watch all the movies I watched on this flight to make sure I didn’t just enjoy them because I have officially hit my limit, or if they were actually good. Sir Philip, who spent the entire trip packed in a duffle bag also appears to be holding up pretty well. The taxi ride from the airport was pretty interesting (I saw three drug deals from the taxi window), but we are actually staying in a really nice neighborhood. My brother and his wife are renting a flat for about a week from a friend of theirs. We can walk to the Notre Dame and the Louvre from this place. It is pretty freaking great. My family and I will try and be good about taking pictures while we are here and I am going to try and post something every 3 days or so. 

Peace out,

Topher

New Beginnings?

Hello World!

For those who don't know me, I am Topher McNeil. Some people call me Chris, fewer call me CJ, but I hope that many of you consider me a friend. A few years ago, I set up this blog named "The Chronicles of Toph" right before I left on my two year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Concepción, Chile. It was an incredible experience that I loved and cherished. After I returned from Chile in July 2012, I forgot that this blog even existed. In all honesty, I feel really guilty because two whole years of my life are chronicled right here but have been left completely untouched for way too long. I think what is inspiring me to write again is the name "The Chronicles of Toph". I feel like I currently have a chapter of my life documented here but I think it is about time that I add to this chapter. So where do I begin...

So I still try to see my mission friend as often as I can, which I admit has been way harder than I thought it would be. I love these guys so much, but life happens. 

Right after I returned from Chile, I decided to change my major at Brigham Young University from physiology to Food Science. That is easily the best decision I've made in these past two years. In my major, I have participated in a lot of really fun events, including product development competitions, working in a research lab, TAing for the Essentials of Food Science lab, College Bowl competitions, etc. It has been a wild and crazy experience but I can't wait to do it all again next year.

I also made the wonderful decision of living with some of my best friends. Life has thrown the most incredible people in my life and I cherish every one of them. Occasionally, things get rough but I know that I will always be loved by my friends.

I have kept up the BYU Cougar Marching Band, playing trombone and being a member of the logistics committee. It has been wonderful and it makes me incredibly sad that next year will be my last as a part of the band.

I don't think I can really fit two whole years of my life into one post but understand that they have been wonderful. I went from no nieces and nephew when I left for Chile, and now I have the incredible experience of being an uncle to 3 nephews and my niece who I am really excited to meet when I get back from my adventures this summer. I have also spent a lot of time discovering who I am as a person. I am so glad that I know who I am and what I stand for. I would never want to be anyone, or anything other than the person I am today.

I have been blessed with the amazing opportunity to do an internship in Malawi this summer and I am preparing myself to leave for it. It is going to be a great experience and I know I'll learn a lot. I'll keep you all posted on all my adventures. I mainly just need to survive my finals but then it is off to Paris with my family, then 3 months in Malawi. I couldn't be more excited!

If you are reading this, know that I am going to throw in a lot of humor and this will be a fun blog to read. This post may have been a little dry, but if you know me, you know that that isn't what you should expect from here on out.

Toph

July 2nd

So i am really sorry that this letter is going to be really short. I am in Chillan visiting a few of my converts and then I have to get back to Concepcion for a bunch of other things I need to do. This week is going to be crazy! There is so much that I need to do that I don't think I'll be able to do it all. These past few weeks have just flown by.
We will have a baptism Sunday which should be a good way to finish of my mission.
So I'm not sure I told you about my comp's dad's book. GO BUY IT!!! I got an original copy from my comp and it is incredible. Its named "My Orange Dufflebag- a journey to Radical Change" by Sam Bracken. It should be in Barnes and Noble there in California. He said that the book went national two weeks ago.
So this might be my last letter to you guys as a missionary. I am going to try and make some time next week but I am not quite sure what the schedule for the day is going to be.
I love you tons and I will see you soon. I am so excited for everything I have to do this week. Its gonna be great.
Love,
Elder McNeil