That's a wrap

One year ago today, I wrote my second entry on this blog:

"After a grueling 18.5 hour flight, I have made it safely to Cape Town and let me tell you- all that turbulence and shitty Delta food was WORTH IT. It smells really clean here. The air is pleasantly chilly. The house is so unique. Table Mountain is RIGHT out my window. And my housemates are exquisite. 

HALLELUJAH"

....and here I am, one year later, after 26 hours of planes and airports, safely at home. 

And let me tell you: 

It was all worth it

And by all, I mean the entire past year. Last night as I sat on my flight from Lilongwe to Addis Ababa watching my last African sunset, I couldn't help but get carried away with intense nostalgia, thinking back to the morning of August 27th, 2009 as I watched the sun rise over Senegal on my way to Cape Town.

My brain and journal have been flooded with cliches like "So much happened!" and "I am such a different person now!" As much as I have been trying to avoid them, they carry the most truth.  So much did happened, and I truly am such a different person than I was 1 year ago. My desire to capture this mixture of feelings in my journal or in my memory is not motivated solely for the sake of documentation. It is motivated by the momentary calm I am experiencing right now, as I feel I am catching my breath after riding a huge, wild wave to shore. It is motivated by necessity, as it would be impossible for me to truly move on the the next phase of my life without reflection and closure. To try and sum up what I have learned in this entry would take forever. And really, the proof doesn't reside on paper (or on the screen, in this case); it resides in me. 

So, what's next? Good question! I've deliberately made my "plans" for the upcoming months quite simple. I'm going to live in Carrboro, around my friends (and family now, with my sister Sarah living in Chapel Hill!) and be a nanny, perhaps a waitress, while looking for other employment opportunities. I'm going to relish autumn in North Carolina, enjoy the company of my friends, and continue to "take the time" to think about what I want to pursue, what my next adventure will be. Am I a little nervous about my simple game plan? Honestly, a little. Might I have a mini (or major) freak-out when I move back to my college town, feeling so different than when I left it? Highly possible. But I've realized that this is ok, maybe to be expected, and certainly nothing to be ashamed of. I am sure it is going to be a big adjustment, but I am honestly ecstatic about it. It felt right to leave Malawi yesterday- my time there is over. Sure, I am going to miss my dear Andrew Finn a bunch for the next few months as he finishes up in Malawi, but moving back to the USA is exactly what I need to do at the moment. 

At the end of my last journal entry on the plane yesterday, I narrowed down the way I am feeling at the end of this African adventure to 3 adjectives: 

 happy, grateful, excited

Happy and grateful for all of my opportunities and experiences, and excited about all that is to come. 

I am so glad that I have kept this blog, it has been such a great way for me to keep in touch with people and sort out my thoughts! Grace and I are starting a new blog in America about a particular subject, and if you are interested you're just going to have to email us. 

And just as I watched the sunrise a year ago over that vivid, stormy sky, I will watch the sun rise tomorrow from my true home, North Carolina.

And THAT, my friends, is a wrap. 

HALLELUJAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Madalitso

 

There is so so much to say about this young man, Madalitso, but I'll leave it at 3 things for now:

First:  he is 17

Second: he has been through more hardship than almost anyone I've ever met

Third: his positivity is limitless

His story is one of the 10 on this album. I have had the honor of composing and recording the music for his song; the only track with piano. We thought it would add a lot to his piece to have him come into the studio and record his voice, just talking. Well, that's exactly what happened today; we brought him in, put him n front of a mic, and he spoke from his heart. Everyone in the studio went silent. At one point I had to leave the room because I didn't want him to see me crying.  Just being around him, all my "problems" seem so small. To call him remarkable would be an understatement. I am so glad to have met this young man, and am even more glad to help provide the musical background to his story.  

 Mada and Me

meet more of the team

Studio Days Part 2:

More musicians!

Movuto on Marimbas

Faith on vocals (one of the nicest people I've met in Malawi)

Joyce "The Voice" on vocals (She can SANNG, yall)

George "THE WAILER" on vocals (HE CAN SAAAAANG)

....the past few studio days have been jam-packed. Almost every track is near completion. The days are long, tedious, and exhausting, but so worth it! More photos to come hopefully- the lighting in the studio is prettttttty dang awful so it's been quite frustrating capturing THE photo I want in the studio. But I''m not giving up- I probably just need to tinker more with the light levels. ANYWAYS, enough excuses. More to come!

timeline

As of this moment, I have:

2 more days in the studio

1 day of packing, taking care of last minute things, saying bye to people, hanging out with my love

......then I get my lil self on a plane and go from Lilongwe to Addis Ababa to Rome to DC to Charlotte.

WORD.

meet the team

Studio Days:

Here is the musical team (so far!) for "Stories of AIDS Through Music: Malawi"

Producer and musician, Andrew Finn Magill

Producer and musician, Peter Mawanga

Sound engineer/baller: Tristram Johnson

Bassist Alfred Sitolo

Drummer Dryson Mwimba

and me, the pianist! and photographer :) except for this shot: 

We've spent the past few days in the recording studio with these people, laying down all of the intricate songs first. Later this week and next week, the singers will be coming in to lay down the Chichewa vocals. 

Things are rollin!!!

Grace

TODAY'S HEADLINE:

My baby done lef' me.

Today, August 11th, was a cloudy, rainy, windy, dreary day in Lilongwe. Some say it is due to the fact that there are winds blowing from the lake and a heat wave is on its way, but I think it is because Grace MacNair left Malawi yesterday.

OHHHH HOW MY HEART ACHES.

I can not express how grateful I am to have spent my summer with this wonderful woman. She has taught me so much about so many things. The lessons I have included on this blog don't even BEGIN to cover all that she has taught be. I do have a few more to share though, so here is my final 

mini- installment of Lessons from Grace:

     1)    Whenever cooking a dish that has dairy in it, like quiche, put some nutmeg in it. It brings out the    flavor of the dairy so much more.

2) Sometimes babies come out of the womb lactating. Girls and boys!! Apparently, the hormones coursing through the mother’s body can affect the baby so much that the baby will temporarily lactate. Also, baby girls sometimes come out having a period. WHAT?!?! Fascinating!

3)     The inside of an egg is sterile- whatever contaminant that makes people sick (salmonella, E. coli) just comes on the shell!! So just wash that egg before you crack it! (This might just be more of a common sense DUH kind of thing, but I used to think that any undercooked egg was just crawling with nasties. Just an example of a Paranoid Kaitlin misunderstanding)

4)    When making a cake for a vegan, instead of using eggs you can use bananas! Making banana bread for a vegan? Just add a few more bananas to replace the eggs. Holla.

5)   When baking a cake, putting a cup of boiling water in the batter is what will make it moist 

One final note: 

We dropped by the hospital yesterday on the way to the airport so she could give something to a coworker and we came across a mother that Grace had helped the day before. When the woman sees Grace, she starts beaming. Grace runs up to her and hugs her, telling her what an amazing job she did during delivery. I almost cried. It hit me that this was just one mother that Grace worked with this summer, and I could see what an impact she had on that woman's life. I can't even imagine the difference she has made for so many mothers in Malawi. 

More than almost anyone I know, she makes me happy.

2 years ago today....

....I made it to my personal summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro. 

....I pushed myself harder than I ever have

....I felt like I was bout to die

....was the hardest day of my life

.....was one of the BEST days of my life.

I cant believe its been 2 years since that insane day!! I felt so awful, so broken- I have never been more exhausted in my life. Since that day, whenever I feel tired or feel like I cant make it, I think of August 9th, 2008 and then I can go on. I can say with certainty that every year for the rest of my life on August 9th, I will stop and take a moment to give props to that mountain. I may not have made it to the tip-top, but that doesnt matter to me. She showed me so much. And I am forever grateful for that.