shelly bankston
Volunteer: shelly bankston
Bio:
RPCV Malawi 1990-92
Duke BS
Tulane MPH
Medical student year 4.
Contributions from shelly bankston
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Why I never went to Law School After Peace Corps
One day toward the end of my service in 1992, I heard a knock on my door. I opened it and saw the chief of the village summoning me to court under the local BAOBAB tree in the scorching hot African sun. He had his offical headdress on with hundreds of HUGE FEATHERS sticking out of it. And he was speaking Chichewa in a harsh tone. He took me down the road about 3km from my home and summoned me to sit under the tree, where I was interrogated for over 14 hrs. My dog had been eating local chicken...
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training like cheerleaders
PCV training in Malawi 1991.
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monkey see monkey do
On Lake Malawi, there was a place called Cape McClear. On this Cape, there is a place called Monkey Bay. I would escape from work and go stay in a hut to watch the beautiful sunsets. The locals would make me pancakes and bananas for breakfast. The monkeys would come and grab the banana peels, grab the fruit out of the tourists hands. and play on the steps. They saw no evil, heard no evil, and spoke no evil.
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wikipolo with mother
This child's name is wikipolo. He is here with his mother; a very young girl just out of her teen years.
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wikipolo
This childs name was wikipolo. The grandmother is shown here caring for wikipolo. I thought the name was great; though I do not know what it means in Chichewa.
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carlsberg beer in malawi
circa 1992. carlsberg beer distribution center Malawi.
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favorite tailor
This was my favorite tailor in Malawi 1992.
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my host family in Malawi
This was my host family in Malawi circa 1992.
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the lorry transport
This was standard transportation in Malawi circa 1992. Hard to fathom when coming from a land of one car per person in the USA.
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gotta be happy with a bike!
Bicycling in Malawi is the main mode of transportation. This fellow was having a jolly good time.
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Malawi host family
This is my Malawian host family. circa 1992.
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child reading
This is a picture of a young child reading in my village in Malawi. circa 1992. We are all born somewhere and must find a way to learn wherever we are.
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kudu
Kudu on top of nyika plateau. Malawi 1992.
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wildebeest
Wildebeest on top of nyika plateau in malawi. circa 1992.
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rainbow over victoria falls
This is a rainbow over victoria falls. circa 1992
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family of hippos
I took a 10 day canoe trip through a park in Zimbabwe. We canoed very close to this family of hippos.
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giraffe
Zimbabwean giraffe in hwange national park. circa 1992.
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sunset over Lake Malawi
This is a sunset scene over Lake Malawi from Cape MacClear.
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african plains
This is a picture from on top of Nyika Plateau in Northern Malawi. It is the site that David Livingston set up a mission hospital during WW2. Women from the local villages would hike up to the top of this plateau 4 months before giving birth and then hike back down afterwards. From the top of the plateau one can see the Shire River (Lake Tanginyika drain off) and 4 countries; zambia, tanzania, malawi, and mozambique; and on a really good day..all the way to the Indian Ocean. On the grounds of...
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health care clinic in Malawi
This is what local health care costs at the clinic. Ntchifu means cough. Tibi means TB. Mzima is a stomach ache. Poliyo is a polio vaccine. Mutu wamkulu is a headache. And 1usd equaled about 30 kwacha back in 1992.
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guliwamkulu
Guliwamkulu are masked dancers from the community. They make their own masks. The identity of the individual should never be known. If in the act of dancing, a guliwamkulu lets his mask fall off and his identity becomes known; the mask is sent to a musuem (Mua Mission) for preservation in Malawi. Guliwamkulu often made red masks to mimic the face of 'the white men'. Their plays and their dances would reflect their feelings toward our race and our western culture. The closest thing I can think...
