I am starting to publish the final results of my Fulbright research. Here is an article I published on the Ubuntu Linux Community wiki about creating a network monitoring server to analyze traffic on your network.

It has proven to be an essential tool for my resaerch and for improving the campus network at Mzuzu University. If you want detailed analysis of who is doing what on your computer network, this Network Monitoring Bridge is for you.

Local Classroom Before MuralsI remember mine…they were white but there was hardly any white showing. One wall was entirely huge glass windows that looked outside to a nice lawn with beautiful trees and bushes, the other had miles and miles of chalk board, the third was a wall of cabinets covered in paintings from art class, reports and pictures from class, and the last was covered in bulletin boards with a rainbow of colors, words, shapes and themes of all sorts. On top of that we had carpet with beanbags for reading time, a game corner, a mini-library, a fish tank, personalized desks, and large tables for projects. That’s what you call a learning environment. A space that is comfortable, inviting and inspiring. Surrounded by words, colors and pictures a child can learn on his own.

Makeshift ClassroomThis blog is long, LONG overdue. Back in April I started visiting local primary (grades 1-8) and secondary (grades 9-12) schools, planning for the distribution of books coming from World Care in Tucson. We were expecting the container to ship out from the World Care warehouses at the end of May, which would have it arriving in Malawi 3-6 months later. Just last Friday, October 20th , we received the container in Mzuzu and unloaded 30,000 lbs of books into an empty classroom at Mzuzu University where they will be stored during distribution. This literally doubles, even quadruples in some cases, the number of books at these schools. It’s very exciting to be a part of this effort.

I have commissioned local woodcarver and artist, Solomon and Gilbert, to make custom, hand carved frames for my paintings. I’m getting ready for exhibitions back home and thought that it would be a nice touch to have frames made in Malawi especially since woodcarving is the main art form here. In addition, it makes work for local artists!

A while back I did an egg tempera paint making demonstration with the Youth AIDS Resource Center in Ekwendeni (a small town just north of Mzuzu). The center is run by the CCAP (Central Church of Africa Presbyterian) and has some 26 youth clubs around the area. One of their clubs is the handmade paper making club. Using recycled materials (office papers, newspaper, etc) they make their own paper and cards for sale. The proceeds goes towards paying school fees for orphans and providing food for the HIV/AIDS home-based care program out in the villages. Before I did my demonstration they were decorating cards with collages (leafs, feathers, dried flowers, etc), but expressed interest in painting. It was a perfect opportunity to share the results of my experimentation with natural pigments. This group doesn’t have it in their budget to be buying paint but they can easily dig up colorful soils in their “backyard”, make charcoal and collect white chalk from schools.

I am kind of discouraged after a week of experimenting with making oil paints using natural pigments and linseed oil. The conclusion of my experiments is that it doesn’t work. My pigments all come from soils and I was using linseed oil bought at the local hardware store. The linseed oil turns the pigment powders about five shades darker, and after a week, they still haven’t dried. Linseed oil is supposed to be a “drying oil” meaning that with oxidation a chemical change takes place turning the oil into a dry plastic-like solid. It’s a bit of a shame that this didn’t work since I have 4 liters of linseed oil sitting in our shed.

"Africa's Golden Pond"... That's what the Guardian calls lake Malawi in their latest travel feature.

The article highlights just how special the geography of Malawi really is. The author somehow managed to find accomodation for $100-$200 USD per night, but believe me, you can find paradise on the shores of lake malawi for about $15 USD per night.

Visitors who want to come see what we mean are all "most welcome here".

Scorpion Sisters Football Team: Scorpion Sisters (a.k.a. Prison United)Unbeknownst to most Mzuzuites, there is a booming Women’s Football League in Mzuzu and the surrounding areas. When we arrived in Malawi last February I was surprised to find organized soccer for girls in the northern region of Malawi. Mzuzu has 15 teams that compete in the league. Most of the teams belong to secondary schools (high schools) but a few are club teams. I met with Tamala Banda, one of five female referees in the country, about coaching. She helped search out a young and dedicated team for me to work with. Before I knew it I was out on the ground (field) at the prison coaching Prison United. The name is a bit misleading, as none of my girls are prisoners, but girls from 14-22 years old who come from different secondary schools around Masasa neighborhood.

I have noticed that the Gmail folks have made improvements to their web interface for people connecting over low bandwidth or unreliable internet connections. They now display a message that says something like: "your connection is too slow, click HERE to view your mail using standard HTML view." This is great, but sometimes still, its not enough.

Here are two tricks we use to access Gmail from Malawi:

• Get Mozilla Thunderbrid and use Gmail's POP capabilities to access your mail.