-Well Joy and I are
in the States for a few weeks to visit family, get some work done and even try
and have a little vacation. It’s cold
and raining as I write this. Malawi you
are a beauty. But change is good so we
are happy to be driving around my old stomping grounds in Columbus Ohio. Not much has changed here. There are a few new restaurants and some
buildings have received face-lifts.
After four years away the biggest change I see is every seems to have a
new or newish car. Perhaps I’m just used
to seeing beaters in Malawi but it does seem a flash car is now mandatory in
Ohio.
- I’ve begun reading from academic journals more lately
mostly environmental history of Africa.
Perhaps the articles I have been reading are not representative of the
field, or at least are only representative of on part of it, but I find much of
the research to be driven by political ideologies. This isn’t surprising or even necessarily a
bad thing. But I would like to find historians who are seeking relevancy
through skilled literary craftsmanship and a desire to tell new stories.
- Our Prez in Malawi, Joyce Banda, was recently given and honorary
doctorate by Jeonju University in South Korea.
Some Malawians aren’t too impressed with this gesture given the state of
the Malawian economy but according to Joy Koreans often bestow titles on people
as an incentive in the hope that they will live up to them rather than as
rewards for previous accomplishments.
-Our weather station has arrived and is looking pretty good,
no more manual collection of data. I’ll
put the current weather and forecast for Kande on the Maru’s website as soon as
I get back in Korea.
-We have quite a few volunteers and interns coming in the
next few months. It is exciting to think
of all the research we can do with the extra hands! If you would like to apply to volunteer or
intern with us go to www.themaru.org/involved.html
