Greetings from the Land Where Footprints Have Toes - Malawi, the warm heart of Africa. I served a twenty-seven month term as a Peace Corps Volunteer in the southern reigon of the country, living in a rural village at the edge of Phirilongwe (pee-ree-long-way) Forest Reserve. I was a Community Forestry Extension Worker, which means I spent my days talking to people about natural resource management and facilitating their development of ways to make best use of the resources they have left. We worked on setting up tree nurseries and woodlots, improving agricultural practices, building fuel-efficient stoves, and controlling soil erosion, among other things.

My secondary projects included teaching HIV/AIDS awareness and good nutrition practices to villagers waiting for medical attention at two health centers, and designing a solar fruit and vegetable dryer from locally available materials.

Acceptance and integration in the communities makes a huge difference in one's sucess as an extension worker, so I spent a lot of time learning Chichewa, the language spoken in my area, and just hanging out with my neighbors.