Wophunziro ambiri! Lots of students!

The northern hemisphere's summer is known as "intern season" here in Lilongwe.  It feels like the azungu population has doubled in the last month as young, bright-faced, idealistic students from North America and Europe swell the backpackers and bars.  UNC Project currently has 6 students -- 2 medical students, 2 geography graduate students, and 2 undergraduate Morehead Scholars.  I'm supervising/mentoring the 2 undergraduates and I've worked hard to develop a program that will keep them busy, teach them about research principles including the realities of research in a setting like Malawi, and let them learn about the community and culture here (i.e. where all of our study clients are coming from).  They are great - they're smart, motivated, energetic, and willing to do anything.  It's been a lot of work on my end, but I think in their short time they will have contributed positive things to the clinic and hopefully will have learned a lot and had a fulfilling experience.  

I also leave this weekend to teach for 2 weeks at the College of Medicine in Blantyre.  I like going to Big City B, and I think it will be interesting and challenging to teach to a classroom of Malawians.  I'll be teaching the first week of a 2-week Advanced Epidemiology/Biostatistics course to Malawians pursuing a Master's in Public Health.  Luckily my academic advisor from UNC will arrive for the 2nd week and I will only have to lead small group help sessions! I TAed a similar course in Chapel Hill and I'm interested to see the contrasts.  

I've been busy but certainly plan to make time for some adventures along the way.  I plan to stop at the lake on the way down with another graduate student (also doing her PhD on HIV counseling and testing issues at another institution - we met at a conference last summer and she just arrived for 3 months to do some fieldwork), do some hiking on the weekend in between with the Malawi Mountain Club in the hills surrounding Blantyre, and go to Mulanje or Zomba for some trail-running/training for the upcoming Mulanje Porter's Race before heading back to Lilongwe.