I am writing this in Johannesburg, South Africa after an 18 hour plane ride.  Tomorrow, it’s another 3 hours to Malawi, and hard to believe that I am actually almost there, because, truth be told, this has been a three, even four, year journey. In Malawi, I will work with Dzoole CDSS, the secondary school where I taught during Peace Corps, to build a huge two-room girls hostel.  When finished, it will sleep over 150 girls.  Dzoole has always wanted girls hostels.  In fact, a Peace Corps Response (a PC volunteer doing a second stint of service who works with local NGOs, rather than directly with the community) submitted proposals, but the project never came to fruition.  Building is extremely expensive in landlocked Malawi, and it often took the school an entire term just to save for one iron roof sheet. Continue reading