teach abroad – ExperienceSomethingAmazing

Is This How You Adult?

For those of you who are just tuning in, I am Jill. I just graduated from THE University of Georgia with a Special Education degree. I run a nonprofit called, Something Amazing, that helps bring education to 3rd world countries. I am a strong advocate for people to experience the amazing things in life. Oh yeah, the most important thing I am moving to CHINA to teach English. In my blogs I will talk about my experiences abroad and explain ways that the average broke college student, or person can save up and see the world. I hope you are ready to travel the world with me.
(Flashback to Monday night) In less than 24 hours I will be starting my 30 hour journey to China. I have done all the avoiding that I possibly could do. My brain has gone into over drive and refuses to concentrate on this move. I am unable to fully process what I need to pack, how I need to prepare, how I should mentally be preparing because I have never done this before. Although I make it look flawless I am extremely nervous and uneasy about the entire situation. Yes, I have traveled to other countries for several months at a time, but this time is different. I moved out of my apartment, I sold 90% of everything I owned, I have a one way ticket and I don’t quite know when I will be coming home.
Spoiler alert I eventually figure out what I needed to pack, I had 5 melt downs before leaving, but I finally made it to my plane. Now let’s fast forward to now, I am 5 hours away from landing in China and the nervous jitters have not gone away. I am getting extremely restless and have not been able to sleep. After traveling for about 30 hours all I want is the best Chinese food, a nice hot shower and a long nights sleep.
For those of you who think I have figured this thing called life out, please do not be mistaken from the fabulous pictures and adventures. This trip to China is very ill planned, and every day will be an adventure. The only Chinese I know is how to count to 3 and Hello. Unless this Chinese can order me the world I may run into a little trouble. Although I don’t know any Chinese or relatively anyone in the country I think this is what makes for a great adventure.

35151564_2099309870083450_5765663522348335104_n

35196942_2134358496605009_8115468644277813248_n

Each day will be new, and I will take each lesson learned and create new experiences.
I am on Earth to have an amazing time regardless of everyone else.
Tune in to Jill takes over China.
Experience Something Amazing
Until next time
Stay Awesome
Jill

Am I home?

I felt this over whelming sadness while I sat on the plane heading home. I have been traveling for the last 3 weeks visiting new places, visiting old friends and just exploring. Which never allowed me the chance to fully sit back and process my trip. This feeling has slowly been creeping up on to my soul the last 3 weeks.

This is a feeling that may never go away. This feeling of being trapped in your own world. A world that isn’t at all horrible, a world that I have a loving family, and friends that love and support me. For the last 21 years of my life, I have had everything I ever wanted, I got into a great school, I am one year away from graduating with a special education degree. I never have had to worry about anything when growing up, or even now. For a lack of better words, America has nothing for me. The life I lived in America is not one to want to live. Recently I was stuck in Africa. Yes, stuck in Africa no way of getting back home. (Only for a few days). Here is what happened: I wasn’t able to get into South Africa due to old immigration issues. I was denied entry into the country, and therefore could not catch my flight. What people don’t realize is 90% of southern African fights connect via South Africa. This caused a big problem when trying to get new tickets.

The last three months have been the most challenging, frustrating, wonderful eye opening months I have ever lived. I have experienced racism, and sexism first hand. I have had many people doubt my ability due to my age, color, and gender. I have cried because I felt helpless against kids who were being forced into poverty due to the lack of educational support that was needed. I have seen the sunrise over Lake Malawi a million times and it never ceased to amaze me. I have had kids trust me with every ounce in their bone and neither of us spoke the same language

I have stood in front of 30 to 80 students doing an impromptu lesson because no one was there to teach. I have doubted my ability to teach anyone anything because only 3 kids understood the lesson I taught. I have taught a lesson that almost every single student understood. I have had the lights cut off several times due to the lack of money. I have gone to school and bed hungry because there wasn’t enough food in the house. I have had meet people who have become a second family to me. People who have opened their doors to their homes more times than people I’ve known for years. Through every tribulation, I faced there was an amazing attribute that made my day.

These last 3 months I have needed more things than I could count. I have wanted and cried for help more times than I have in the last year. At this point, I don’t know if Malawi needs me, but I sure do need Malawi. The sadness may never go away. The emptiness may always be there. Maybe there is a larger picture between me and Malawi. Maybe this is just chapter 1 of a bigger book.

Now that I am back home I will be posting past blogs I did not have a chance to post.

Big news coming soon

Until next time

Stay Awesome Jill

My Relationship With Malawi

Today I woke up hoping there was electricity since it went out yesterday in the afternoon. I flip the switch, yes electricity, I can charge my phone now. I continue with my morning duties, let’s take a shower, the cold water is hitting my face just right at 6 am right before school. Midway through my shower, the water cuts off. There must be a water shortage right now, I’ll try again later. As I dry myself off I realize my feet are still covered with bright red clay dirt and have been for a month. The dirt rim on the bottom of the shower stays there because most times we don’t wear shoes. Oh yeah, I have to remember to have long tights under my skirt, if my knees show it will be a disaster while in town.

Let’s go to breakfast and see what Chico (my house mom) made for breakfast: popcorn and boiled sweet potatoes with tea. Sounds like a meal of champions. Midway through breakfast, the power cut off, another power shortage. I whisper to myself today will be a good day, I’m sure of it.

Off to school now. The teachers are still on strike, but I love my kids in standard 3 and 4 they are so willing to learn. Today I will try something new, let’s learn about a house and the things inside of a house. This topic may be hard for some students because the only thing in their one bedroom house is a small outside cooking stove, their 5 siblings, and one sleeping mat. I will try anyway and hope it doesn’t fail. I gave each group of students a large piece of paper and several colored pencils and tell them to write: where they live, what their name is and draw a house and things you find in the house. Of course, I had the questions translated to their natural tongue. All the kids snicker when I try to say the words, but at least I tried. The creative minds are at work, it always amazes me when I see at which level the students understand me.

Some do exactly what they are told, drawing a cup or a table and others draw a motorcycle. The creativity in these kids minds are endless, they just need the opportunity. This activity was a success, let’s hang the pictures on the walls to give the classroom some life. The dark brick walls were kind of sad before, now they have color and life added to them. It’s break time, but first, let me collect all the pens I provided so we will continue to have pens each day.

Now, let’s hand out the fixed uniforms, all the kids circled around while I called their names out, “Innocent…..Vincent….Supply……Martha…..Password” some of the names were a bit unique but the kids were so happy to have buttons and large holes fixed on their uniform. The excitement on one girl’s face while she put her dress on and she had a button was priceless.

The only teacher that came today, walks up and says, “Jill I heard you have a large family at home (Roughly 10 to 12 people) here are some sweet potatoes. I want to give them to thank you for all that you do here.” I was speechless, the simple act of giving me food meant the world to me as I replied, ” twanga jomany(thank you very much)” many people can’t afford to feed their family, I am thankful when people are willing to give their last.

There are many things I love in this community. There are many things I look forward to seeing every day when I ride to and from school. The one thing that brightens up my day is when I come home and see the kids that live in my neighborhood. They all come running up to me wanting a hug. They have grown to be my little brothers and sisters. A hug and a kiss for everyone, there is always enough for everyone. Throughout the day there are times, I hate Malawi. I hate some of the cultural differences here, and many of the things I endure. I hate that sometimes when I buy chips they are stale. I hate that so many kids are going to bed hungry. I hate when I buy fries the bag breaks before I can eat them. I hate when the goats are too loud at night. I hate when the teachers do not show up for work. I hate when literally everything around me seems like it is failing. But at the end of the day, I love Malawi.

Please donate in order for us to feed more families, send more students to school and help in many ways. $8 can feed a family for roughly 2 weeks. $2 can make a new uniform for a student. $45 can send a high school student to school for one semester. Anything you give can be helpful.

Remember to follow us on facebook: Jill bundy or Something Amazing and instagrm Expereince_something_Amazing or Maybeits_jill

Until Next Time

Stay Awesome

Jill

4 Sticks and a Mud House

In the last 48 hours, I have seen living conditions that wouldn’t even be fit for a dog. A house that was essentially just sticks held together by mud with a straw roof. One bedroom made for 8 people to live in, with no running water or electricity. I saw 6 kids running around who probably hasn’t eaten in a day or two. I’ve seen parents huddled around a circle trying to use the scraps of corn in order to make corn flower to have something to eat. Kids having huge holes in their clothes because that’s all they have. Looking at these things hurt my heart so much. It is the first time I wanted to cry immediately when seeing something.

Now the reason I was at this house held together by sticks and mud was that a few days ago I lost my phone. My phone fell out of my bike basket and I didn’t notice until 20 minutes later after riding into town. At first, one of the men who found my phone demanded money in order to get the phone back. I was taken back because although I lost my phone, I’ve never been held at ransom for anything. We (my host brother, several collages and local friends) eventually talked the man down off of a high amount of money for Malawians, 5,000 kwacha (Roughly 6 dollars) and convinced him to give my phone back. We agreed the money will be paid at a later time.

Now let’s fast forward back to today. I wanted to thank the man who found it in his heart to give my phone back because he could have sold it and brought a new house. (Androids/smartphones are hard to find here and very expensive). After talking with the school board members and one of the men who found the phone it was explained that asking for a ransom is not how the Malawian culture does things. They explained that I am volunteering in his community and that he should be happy that I am here. It is the Malawian culture return something that does not belong to them without demanding money. In the meeting, I wasn’t able to say anything due to the culture. I left the meeting not feeling right inside my heart. Therefore, I and a fellow local friend went and found the man at his house. We explained that I just wanted to thank him for returning my phone because he truly did the right thing.

After seeing the rough living conditions (mentioned above) we asked did they have any food, and the answer was no. My heart sank deep into my chest knowing that one of the kids I teach every day lived in this house. He is a quiet student and his home life is less than desirable. Therefore I did what I felt was right. I went into town and bought enough food for 2 weeks. It’s not much, it does not solve all of the problems these people face, but hopefully, it just makes it easier for a little while. Before sending the wife back up the hill with the groceries, I explained (with the help of my friend) that when you do good things, you can be rewarded.

In Malawi, the average person lives in less than a $1 a day. So the next time you pull into the Chik fila drive thru and order a $8 meal but are upset that the fries aren’t warm enough. I want you to realize that some people haven’t eaten in a few days. These are the people I am encountering every day, these are my students from my class, or my neighbor next door. This is not to shame any one, but with $8 and your help, you can assist in more ways than can be imagined. I cannot fix everything or anything at all, but what I can do is make small impacts in ways people would never expect.

If you can please donate using any link found on my blog.

Until next time

Stay Awesome

Jill

You don’t have to like me, but respect me

(As a reminder these are my experiences. I cannot speak for a whole country or continent.)

The social norms here in Malawi are very different. I feel like I have taken a time machine and have gone back in time. The roles of men and women are simply: the women are the main providers, whether that is bringing home money, taking care of the children, or doing all of the house duties. The women are to go fetch water, get firewood, or sell the harvest. Men and women are not respected on the same level and I have experienced this first hand. For example, an older gentleman that works at the campsite asked Ernest (A fellow Malawian female) to go fetch water, since she was busy I went instead. I got about 5 liters of water,(4 really big bottles of water) which I had to walk about 10 minutes in total to retrieve the water. It was not a far walk but can become difficult due to the amount of water I was carrying. When I returned about 20 minutes later, the older gentlemen asked, “Why I only got 5 liters of water instead of the 15 liters?” This would have been a fair question if 5 other guys were not simply just sitting around doing nothing. I simply replied, “Your welcome for the 5 liters of water, and one of your other men can go get the other 10 liters.” It is seen in this culture that, fetching water, regardless of how far or how heavy it is a women’s job. I have walked into rooms and have not been acknowledged solely due to the fact I was a woman. This has made me want to flip many tables. Many of the times I am by far the most qualified person in a room, due to experience in teaching, almost fully completing a degree, owning a nonprofit, and have done lots of research on developing nations, but I have been overlooked due to my gender. This is their cultural I cannot change it I must accept it. Now I simply stay quiet and observe the people around me.

The structure of work is very different here. There are plenty of men who go to work, but this solely depends on the structure of the household. If one does not own a business, is a driver or owns a farm than the person does not work. Here in Rumphi, Malawi if you own a business you are successful. It does not matter if your business makes a profit, but you own something and one should be proud. I do believe that owning a business is something to be proud of. My only issue is when walking down the street for 5 minutes you pass 15 mini shops (usually a small outhouse looking building with the simple necessities), 5 barber shops and 15 people selling vegetables. I do not know how people make a profit to survive. This has become a systematic problem due to the lack of education. In Malawi, Primary school (1^st grade to 8^th grade) is free, after 8^th grade, the parents must pay for the student to continue education. Parents cannot afford for their child to continue their education due to the lack of funds available. The other issue is the student cannot pass the 8th-grade exam due to constantly being out of school or having unqualified teachers. Many of the students in rural areas miss weeks’ worth of school to help on the farm or help their parents earn money to get food.

In these situations, I cannot do anything, because these are systematic problems. But what I can do is make the teachers accountable for showing up for work. I can make sure that each day I am present for school the students are in class as much as possible. I can make sure that even if a teacher isn’t present learning still continues. Education is key to accomplishing anything in life. Although going to college and university is not always the option for everyone, education is. This goes for anywhere in the world, students are our future. We want to make sure that each student knows they can accomplish anything. We (teachers, parents, friends, decent human beings) must uplift and protect our children so that they can go be Something Amazing in this world.

Remember to subscribe to the blog(bottom right-hand corner)

Until next time

Stay Awesome,

Jill

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this: