Wednesday, July 30th, 2008
Tuesday I managed to get out to Magunditsa to do the assessment of the village fishpond. It went very well. The people there were so nice and friendly. One of the village women came running up to the pond when we first got there and called us thieves before she realized what was going on (the extension officer for the village apparently didn’t tell her of our assessment that day). It was quite funny actually. In the past the village has had a problem with people stealing fish in the middle of the night or while they were at church. She asked me for barbwire. They offered to give me a fish but only after I bring them some fishing nets they joked. By the end of the visit we were all good friends and everybody wanted their picture taken, they were amazed with my digital camera, especially when I played the pictures back to them. They laughed so hard when they saw themselves – I guess they don’t see pictures of themselves that often. When I was leaving the woman who called me a thief gave me a Malawi name – Najere. It was a touching gift of acceptance.
Today, Wednesday, I was supposed to do my last needs assessment in the villages of Chinyamula and Njuli, in Ntcheu District, but we ran out of gas for the truck (at least it wasn’t cancelled by a funeral this time). Normally you could just go to the gas station on the highway outside Dedza, but that station was out of gas too. It seems that a lot of places are out of gas. When I was in Kasungu over the weekend all 3 gas stations were out of fuel. The only place to buy fuel was from the hawkers who were sitting next to the gas station with drums of petrol. Petrol here costs 200kwa/L ($1.40/L), but the hawkers were selling for 500kwa/L ($3.50/L). Nice.
Gas shortages are fairly common here. The areas around Blantyre are also short on both petrol and diesel. I was reading in the national newspaper, The Malawi News (which is written in English thankfully), that some stations were hoarding gas and not selling hoping to drive the prices up. Some accused the gas station owners of being in cahoots with the hawkers. There is no government regulation on fuel here so the gas stations can get away with this behaviour. Malawi has no natural resource of oil or gas so they are very susceptible to any market fluctuation. Well we all know the politics of gas nowadays so I need not ramble on about that. But it seems to have affected Malawi about 3-fold that of Canada.
Apparently there are some stations in Lilongwe that have fuel and staff has gone into the city to buy some (I guess one of our trucks has fuel then). Aw yes, the joys of working in a developing country. Never fear, while the trucks and stations have run out of gas, my spirit has not. Hopefully I will get down to Ntcheu tomorrow. Cross your fingers for me.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Monday, July 28, 2008
Working Through the Hardship
Monday, July 28th, 2008
So my biggest complaint about Malawi by far is the poor internet connection. I miss it at home, college, work… In fact there is only one computer at the Dedza office which has internet access – the secretary’s. Every weekday I go to her office and try to hop on her computer for 30min or so when she’s not on it. I have not checked my email in 4 days and I feel so utterly lost. Sigh. How dependant on technology are we?!
Hence an explanation for my lack of blogs/email/facebook updates.
So what has happened this past week? A lot. I did another needs assessment at Chamagwana village on Friday. Capacity wise, it was similar to the first site I visited, Luweya. They asked for much of the same (harvesting nets, shovels, 4 bags of cement, 2 pipes with a sieve, wire mesh enclosure and most importantly - training). At this site there were equal numbers of men and women working the ponds (36 each). The men said that they strived for gender parity in their work, but I wonder if it is true equality or just equal numbers? Who makes the decisions, holds the power and collects the money? When I went to interview the villagers all the women were gone to a funeral and it was only the men left in the village to show me the ponds. I’d like to talk to both for their unique perspectives but that wasn’t possible.
Awwww, so many funerals! Besides the funeral at Chamagwana, a co-worker, Judith, who was supposed to go to the village with me on Friday had to leave for home to go to her cousin’s funeral. I’ve learned that you can tell when a village is having a funeral where you see branches laid across the road where the family home is. I see a lot of branches.
A nun who works at the office asked me how I was doing after seeing so many funerals. I told her that it was difficult seeing so many, but that it motivated me even more to help alleviate the burden of poverty. I think that as a development worker you need to find a reason for working under these adverse conditions. Once the adventure and romance of travelling to a foreign land wears off you need some kind of motivation to keep going. I’ve found my motivation in the spirit of the people here.
So I keep working through the hardship. And despite the difficulties, I have now done 2 needs assessments and hope to do 2 more this week at Chinyamula and Magunditsa.
I also had a very informative meeting with a prof at the University of Malawi’s Bunda College, who runs the aquaculture program. I visited their demonstration fishponds and gathered some helpful information. For instance I now know that Makumba is the common Malawi name for species’ of tilapia, either Oreochromis shiranus or Tilapia rendalli (for you biologists out there). I was also pleasantly surprised to find out that the Marine Institute of Memorial University of Newfoundland (my old stomping ground – I did my undergrad there and my second internship) does a lot capacity building at the college. That will be a valuable connection!
On a lighter note, during the weekend I left work and funerals behind me for a trip up to Kasungu (2hrs north of Lilongwe). The secretary at work, Charity, wanted to take me to Kasungu to visit her parents (everybody here wants to take me home to meet his or her families and share a meal of Nsima with me). I thought it would be fun, and better than being stuck in Dedza all weekend shivering with cold and stuck with my nose in a book. Kasungu is much warmer than Dedza as it is at a lower altitude, nearer to sea level, as opposed to Dedza at 5300ft (1600m).
I’m really glad I went. Firstly, I experienced a Malawian baby shower. They play really loud music (ironically not so baby friendly) and talk a really long time. You bring gifts for the baby as you would in Canada but the real difference is the dancing and money throwing part. Different family members and friends are summoned to dance up to where the mother and baby are, and through money around while still dancing to the music. Before the celebration everyone goes to the bank to stock up on 20kwa bills (the smallest bill of the currency, besides coins). You may be called up often and can’t lose face by having run out of money. But throwing 100’s or 500’s can be quite expensive afternoon (FYI $1=150kwa). Women usually show up late to the shower because they don’t want to keep throwing so much money. Lol!!
While baby showers in Canada are held a few months before the baby is born, the showers in Malawi are held 6 months after the baby is born, mostly so that the family will be sure the baby survives. When I explained this to Charity and her mother it was a little awkward because I had to explain that most Canadian women had healthy babies that survived (a low IMR).
The second part of the weekend was fantastic. We went to Kasungu National Park (about 70km away). It’s Malawi’s largest NP with great wildlife. I was able to see Antelope and Hippos lounging by the lake! I was so happy to see them; yes it was my first-time. Unfortunately since it was the dry season not many animals were active so I didn’t get to see the lions, leopards, hyenas or elephants in the park. The warden was saying that the Elephants were getting harder and harder to find because of poaching. There are estimated to be only 70 left in the park. There just aren’t enough wardens to guard the entire park.
I am hoping to get down to southern Malawi to see Liwonde National Park in the future (perhaps in October?). It is supposed to be the best park for wildlife in Malawi and you can canoe down the river near the hippos. That would be incredible. I’ve also found a kayaking outfitter that takes people on 2-3 day kayaking tours to islands in Lake Malawi (although it costs $125/night). It would be expensive but what an opportunity! We’ll see how this interns finances work out come October…
Time to get back to work. Lets hope I can score some internet time later today to actually post this blog :)
So my biggest complaint about Malawi by far is the poor internet connection. I miss it at home, college, work… In fact there is only one computer at the Dedza office which has internet access – the secretary’s. Every weekday I go to her office and try to hop on her computer for 30min or so when she’s not on it. I have not checked my email in 4 days and I feel so utterly lost. Sigh. How dependant on technology are we?!
Hence an explanation for my lack of blogs/email/facebook updates.
So what has happened this past week? A lot. I did another needs assessment at Chamagwana village on Friday. Capacity wise, it was similar to the first site I visited, Luweya. They asked for much of the same (harvesting nets, shovels, 4 bags of cement, 2 pipes with a sieve, wire mesh enclosure and most importantly - training). At this site there were equal numbers of men and women working the ponds (36 each). The men said that they strived for gender parity in their work, but I wonder if it is true equality or just equal numbers? Who makes the decisions, holds the power and collects the money? When I went to interview the villagers all the women were gone to a funeral and it was only the men left in the village to show me the ponds. I’d like to talk to both for their unique perspectives but that wasn’t possible.
Awwww, so many funerals! Besides the funeral at Chamagwana, a co-worker, Judith, who was supposed to go to the village with me on Friday had to leave for home to go to her cousin’s funeral. I’ve learned that you can tell when a village is having a funeral where you see branches laid across the road where the family home is. I see a lot of branches.
A nun who works at the office asked me how I was doing after seeing so many funerals. I told her that it was difficult seeing so many, but that it motivated me even more to help alleviate the burden of poverty. I think that as a development worker you need to find a reason for working under these adverse conditions. Once the adventure and romance of travelling to a foreign land wears off you need some kind of motivation to keep going. I’ve found my motivation in the spirit of the people here.
So I keep working through the hardship. And despite the difficulties, I have now done 2 needs assessments and hope to do 2 more this week at Chinyamula and Magunditsa.
I also had a very informative meeting with a prof at the University of Malawi’s Bunda College, who runs the aquaculture program. I visited their demonstration fishponds and gathered some helpful information. For instance I now know that Makumba is the common Malawi name for species’ of tilapia, either Oreochromis shiranus or Tilapia rendalli (for you biologists out there). I was also pleasantly surprised to find out that the Marine Institute of Memorial University of Newfoundland (my old stomping ground – I did my undergrad there and my second internship) does a lot capacity building at the college. That will be a valuable connection!
On a lighter note, during the weekend I left work and funerals behind me for a trip up to Kasungu (2hrs north of Lilongwe). The secretary at work, Charity, wanted to take me to Kasungu to visit her parents (everybody here wants to take me home to meet his or her families and share a meal of Nsima with me). I thought it would be fun, and better than being stuck in Dedza all weekend shivering with cold and stuck with my nose in a book. Kasungu is much warmer than Dedza as it is at a lower altitude, nearer to sea level, as opposed to Dedza at 5300ft (1600m).
I’m really glad I went. Firstly, I experienced a Malawian baby shower. They play really loud music (ironically not so baby friendly) and talk a really long time. You bring gifts for the baby as you would in Canada but the real difference is the dancing and money throwing part. Different family members and friends are summoned to dance up to where the mother and baby are, and through money around while still dancing to the music. Before the celebration everyone goes to the bank to stock up on 20kwa bills (the smallest bill of the currency, besides coins). You may be called up often and can’t lose face by having run out of money. But throwing 100’s or 500’s can be quite expensive afternoon (FYI $1=150kwa). Women usually show up late to the shower because they don’t want to keep throwing so much money. Lol!!
While baby showers in Canada are held a few months before the baby is born, the showers in Malawi are held 6 months after the baby is born, mostly so that the family will be sure the baby survives. When I explained this to Charity and her mother it was a little awkward because I had to explain that most Canadian women had healthy babies that survived (a low IMR).
The second part of the weekend was fantastic. We went to Kasungu National Park (about 70km away). It’s Malawi’s largest NP with great wildlife. I was able to see Antelope and Hippos lounging by the lake! I was so happy to see them; yes it was my first-time. Unfortunately since it was the dry season not many animals were active so I didn’t get to see the lions, leopards, hyenas or elephants in the park. The warden was saying that the Elephants were getting harder and harder to find because of poaching. There are estimated to be only 70 left in the park. There just aren’t enough wardens to guard the entire park.
I am hoping to get down to southern Malawi to see Liwonde National Park in the future (perhaps in October?). It is supposed to be the best park for wildlife in Malawi and you can canoe down the river near the hippos. That would be incredible. I’ve also found a kayaking outfitter that takes people on 2-3 day kayaking tours to islands in Lake Malawi (although it costs $125/night). It would be expensive but what an opportunity! We’ll see how this interns finances work out come October…
Time to get back to work. Lets hope I can score some internet time later today to actually post this blog :)
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Needs Assessment of Luweya Village Fishponds
Tuesday, July 22th, 2008
Finally I am down to work. On Monday we had a brainstorming session and laid down a work plan outline. What I have proposed to do is conduct needs assessments of the 4 villages in the district of Dedza and based on that I will: 1) write a project proposal to submit to potential donor agencies for funding, and 2) hold a workshop to build capacity and knowledge of fish farming technique for the villages in Dedza and possibly Mangochi if resources permit. I have 12 weeks to do this.
I wasted no time getting the ball rolling (considering the often slow pace of work in most developing countries every opportunity to seize the moment mustn’t be wasted!). Tuesday we set out to conduct needs assessments of 2 villages – Magunditsa and Luweya. Once reaching Magunditsa we learned that a funeral was taking place and doing the needs assessment at that time would not be possible. It was a grim reminder of the paralyzing epidemic gripping Malawi and Africa in general. Sadly, about 50 funerals a week are held in the district of Dedza, most of which are HIV/AIDS related. Not only does this affect the # of able bodied workers in a community but it also places pressure on the time and resources of the community as well. It’s a vicious cycle maintaining poverty as the status quo.
But the day was not a total loss; Luweya was not affected by funerals that day so I was able to conduct a needs assessment in that village. Located only 10km away from the office, it us took nearly an hour to reach the site since the road to the village was in very poor condition, 4x4 vehicles are essential for work in Malawi (as opposed to Toronto)!! When we arrived the village headwoman came to greet us. I was able to greet her in Chichewa and I was wearing a chitenje (the traditional dress for women, basically the African version of a sarong). At the end of the greeting she laughed and said to me (through my interpreter Spriano) that I had passed. Not sure exactly what I could have failed (her respect, trust, welcome, acceptance, all of the above?) but since she was all smiles it was a good thing either way. I am making a genuine effort to learn some basic cultural habits in order to make my work here as effective as possible.
We all walked down a long steep narrow winding path for about 1km to get to the fishponds. Luweya has 3 fishponds run by 90 women and 7 men (the women do most of the ‘unpaid’ work - general labour/housekeeping/child-rearing, while the men go out looking for ‘real paid’ work). The villagers proudly showed us their ponds, all 11m (long) x 9m (wide) x 2m (deep) which were dug using garden hoes. When I asked them what they would like improved they mentioned several things: 1) It was hard to dig the pond with hoes – they would like shovels, 2) Their drainage/flow outlet was a bamboo pole with the centre scraped out – they asked for a PVC pipe, 3) Predators such as frogs and otters were eating the fish – they asked for a sieve to place over the drainage pipe to keep out the frogs and a wire enclosure to keep out otters (they’re current mitigation strategy is to have the village boys come and kill them), 4) They are using their mosquito nets to harvest the fish – they would like proper fishnets instead, and 5) Their most pressing request, however, was to have training in fish farming as they have no technical knowledge of the process, only a rudimentary knowledge of fishing and basic animal rearing.
All these requests are so basic. In Canada the average person would have no trouble buying a shovel, pipe, sieve, fishing net and basic fish farming technique via the Internet, but here it is out of reach for the average villager who lives on less than $1/day. The emotional side of me wants to just go out and spend the $50 for their needs, but the practical side of me knows that I just can’t do that for every village. I need to develop a program with funding and local partnerships in order to build capacity and ensure sustainability, thus being able to outreach to more villages over the long term. Aw the challenge! I wonder if Kiva would put them on their website? Does any IPMPer want to start a microfinance project here with me?
I plan to take it in small steps of course. My next step is to figure out what kind of fish Makumba is. Spriano did not know the English word for it. I suspect it is a breed of tilapia. Argh, if only I had wi-fi in my office I could figure this out right now!! I miss wi-fi sooooo much.
Finally I am down to work. On Monday we had a brainstorming session and laid down a work plan outline. What I have proposed to do is conduct needs assessments of the 4 villages in the district of Dedza and based on that I will: 1) write a project proposal to submit to potential donor agencies for funding, and 2) hold a workshop to build capacity and knowledge of fish farming technique for the villages in Dedza and possibly Mangochi if resources permit. I have 12 weeks to do this.
I wasted no time getting the ball rolling (considering the often slow pace of work in most developing countries every opportunity to seize the moment mustn’t be wasted!). Tuesday we set out to conduct needs assessments of 2 villages – Magunditsa and Luweya. Once reaching Magunditsa we learned that a funeral was taking place and doing the needs assessment at that time would not be possible. It was a grim reminder of the paralyzing epidemic gripping Malawi and Africa in general. Sadly, about 50 funerals a week are held in the district of Dedza, most of which are HIV/AIDS related. Not only does this affect the # of able bodied workers in a community but it also places pressure on the time and resources of the community as well. It’s a vicious cycle maintaining poverty as the status quo.
But the day was not a total loss; Luweya was not affected by funerals that day so I was able to conduct a needs assessment in that village. Located only 10km away from the office, it us took nearly an hour to reach the site since the road to the village was in very poor condition, 4x4 vehicles are essential for work in Malawi (as opposed to Toronto)!! When we arrived the village headwoman came to greet us. I was able to greet her in Chichewa and I was wearing a chitenje (the traditional dress for women, basically the African version of a sarong). At the end of the greeting she laughed and said to me (through my interpreter Spriano) that I had passed. Not sure exactly what I could have failed (her respect, trust, welcome, acceptance, all of the above?) but since she was all smiles it was a good thing either way. I am making a genuine effort to learn some basic cultural habits in order to make my work here as effective as possible.
We all walked down a long steep narrow winding path for about 1km to get to the fishponds. Luweya has 3 fishponds run by 90 women and 7 men (the women do most of the ‘unpaid’ work - general labour/housekeeping/child-rearing, while the men go out looking for ‘real paid’ work). The villagers proudly showed us their ponds, all 11m (long) x 9m (wide) x 2m (deep) which were dug using garden hoes. When I asked them what they would like improved they mentioned several things: 1) It was hard to dig the pond with hoes – they would like shovels, 2) Their drainage/flow outlet was a bamboo pole with the centre scraped out – they asked for a PVC pipe, 3) Predators such as frogs and otters were eating the fish – they asked for a sieve to place over the drainage pipe to keep out the frogs and a wire enclosure to keep out otters (they’re current mitigation strategy is to have the village boys come and kill them), 4) They are using their mosquito nets to harvest the fish – they would like proper fishnets instead, and 5) Their most pressing request, however, was to have training in fish farming as they have no technical knowledge of the process, only a rudimentary knowledge of fishing and basic animal rearing.
All these requests are so basic. In Canada the average person would have no trouble buying a shovel, pipe, sieve, fishing net and basic fish farming technique via the Internet, but here it is out of reach for the average villager who lives on less than $1/day. The emotional side of me wants to just go out and spend the $50 for their needs, but the practical side of me knows that I just can’t do that for every village. I need to develop a program with funding and local partnerships in order to build capacity and ensure sustainability, thus being able to outreach to more villages over the long term. Aw the challenge! I wonder if Kiva would put them on their website? Does any IPMPer want to start a microfinance project here with me?
I plan to take it in small steps of course. My next step is to figure out what kind of fish Makumba is. Spriano did not know the English word for it. I suspect it is a breed of tilapia. Argh, if only I had wi-fi in my office I could figure this out right now!! I miss wi-fi sooooo much.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Hooray for Bootlegs!
Sunday July 20th, 2008
Yesterday I went on the hunt for things to entertain myself while staying in Dedza. There is no nightlife to speak of in Dedza. After dark people go home, shower, eat and sleep.
So when Catherine had to go into
I am a little worried about the reading situation though, I only brought 3 books with me in order to lighten my load I’m hoping the BookMart will have a decent selection like the Lonely Planet guidebook says. I meant to stop in yesterday but I missed the noon closing time. Hopefully the next time I’m in
Friday, July 18, 2008
Mangochi meetings & trip to Moti Village
Blog 4 – Mangochi Meetings – Wednesday am, July 16th, 2008
Today I travelled to Mangochi (a town at the southern tip of Lake Malawi) a 3hr drive from Lilongwe, with Macdonald. Conveniently, the biannual meeting for all CADECOM dioceses (I think there are 7 in total) where being held in Mangochi; so it was a perfect opportunity for me to meet all the people who work in the CADECOM NGO. At the meeting the representatives were discussing the work and results to date of the projects they were undertaking so it was also a great opportunity for me to familiarize myself with their work.
I met some other interesting people at the meeting as well. I met three Canadian women who are working in the Uniterra program with WUSC. Now I think I’ve met all of the WUSC participants working in Malawi – Heather, Vi, Lisandra, Janna (Uniterra) and the 6 OSHI girls and myself in Students Without Borders (SWB) – 11 of us in total. It’s a small community here and I’m sure we’ll be seeing a lot of each other during our time in this small country.
I also met with Catherine Kulemeka, who is to be my hostess for the rest of my stay in Malawi (when we eventually make it to Dedza later this week). I greeted her in my broken Chichewa and she began laughing and gave me a big hug. So I hope this is a good beginning.
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Blog 5 – Trip to Mota Village – Wednesday pm, July 16th, 2008
This afternoon was quite overwhelming and I’m not really sure how to describe what I saw today. Perhaps most first time visitors to Africa, who actually leave the tourist routes all experience this but its still hard to put into words. But an important role of this blog for me personally is to help decompress the things I’ve experienced so here goes.
It was my first time visiting a real/current/common Malawian village – Mota village in the Mangochi district. It was just like the typical TV images you’d expect – small huts made of wood and mud, the lone water pump, livestock roaming around, children running and playing barefoot. After we arrived in our 4x4 SUVs all the villagers came running out to greet us. They were singing, laughing and clapping. The women were so lively and animated. They were carrying their babies on their backs wrapped in their chitenjes (scarves/sarong type clothing). The children swarmed us in greeting. They wrapped around me like a wiggling breathing blanket. Their smiling white teeth, their short cropped hair, unkempt clothes – it all so overwhelming. To be a westerner (azunga) and drive into a small village so obviously struggling with poverty and have these people be so joyous it’s really hard to describe the feeling in writing. Its cheesy I know but that’s it. After greeting and shaking every hand of the adults the village headman led us to the sites where CADECOMs livelihood recovery projects were being implemented. Three projects were currently ongoing – a livestock pass on program, deforestation mitigation and seed bank crops. They were so proud and joyous from the effort and hard work they were putting into the land, more so than any westerner I have ever seen.
During the walk to the projects all the children walked around me but were too shy to actually touch me. I tried to reach out to hold their hands but they backed away as if I had frightened them but then we all bust out laughing. It was all so simple and sweet and moving. Most of the children, although poor and raggedly dressed, appeared healthy. I only saw one girl who was visibly ill, a young girl suffering from trachoma (river blindness disease). There was a large white spot on her left eye from the parasite and both eyes were bloodshot. I asked Bernard (working in CADECOM Dedza where I will soon be working) if she would be OK and he said that it was still in the early stages and that she would be treated and not go blind. There was a new clinic built in the district and she would be treated there. I really hope so. He went on to say that trachoma was a much bigger problem in his day (30 yrs ago maybe I didn’t ask) but now with more hospitals being built and the implementation of mobile health clinics outreaching to the smaller remoter villages less children suffer the long term consequences of this disease.
While still struggling with poverty, there is a noticeable difference in the quality of life for the average Malawian, as a direct result of the development work being done. Disease incidence has decreased and more children are enrolled in primary school (but not so much secondary school). The work is making a difference but there is still so much to be done. As difficult as it may be to live here, both as an average Malawian or a Canadian adapting to this foreign land, I am truly glad to be here. I am confident that I can make some difference here, even if it is only small, a baby step of contribution. It will be time well spent.
I am excited to get to Dedza, the diocese where I will be working. I am looking forward to assessing the livelihood recovery projects ongoing in Dedza and whatever works stems from the assessment. Of course I expect it to be quite challenging but it will be time well spent. I knew it would be challenging before I even arrived, but that is want I want from my career. I need to do more than a desk job. And my work in SE Asia and now SE Africa will be just that. Wish me luck; I think I’ll need it!
Today I travelled to Mangochi (a town at the southern tip of Lake Malawi) a 3hr drive from Lilongwe, with Macdonald. Conveniently, the biannual meeting for all CADECOM dioceses (I think there are 7 in total) where being held in Mangochi; so it was a perfect opportunity for me to meet all the people who work in the CADECOM NGO. At the meeting the representatives were discussing the work and results to date of the projects they were undertaking so it was also a great opportunity for me to familiarize myself with their work.
I met some other interesting people at the meeting as well. I met three Canadian women who are working in the Uniterra program with WUSC. Now I think I’ve met all of the WUSC participants working in Malawi – Heather, Vi, Lisandra, Janna (Uniterra) and the 6 OSHI girls and myself in Students Without Borders (SWB) – 11 of us in total. It’s a small community here and I’m sure we’ll be seeing a lot of each other during our time in this small country.
I also met with Catherine Kulemeka, who is to be my hostess for the rest of my stay in Malawi (when we eventually make it to Dedza later this week). I greeted her in my broken Chichewa and she began laughing and gave me a big hug. So I hope this is a good beginning.
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Blog 5 – Trip to Mota Village – Wednesday pm, July 16th, 2008
This afternoon was quite overwhelming and I’m not really sure how to describe what I saw today. Perhaps most first time visitors to Africa, who actually leave the tourist routes all experience this but its still hard to put into words. But an important role of this blog for me personally is to help decompress the things I’ve experienced so here goes.
It was my first time visiting a real/current/common Malawian village – Mota village in the Mangochi district. It was just like the typical TV images you’d expect – small huts made of wood and mud, the lone water pump, livestock roaming around, children running and playing barefoot. After we arrived in our 4x4 SUVs all the villagers came running out to greet us. They were singing, laughing and clapping. The women were so lively and animated. They were carrying their babies on their backs wrapped in their chitenjes (scarves/sarong type clothing). The children swarmed us in greeting. They wrapped around me like a wiggling breathing blanket. Their smiling white teeth, their short cropped hair, unkempt clothes – it all so overwhelming. To be a westerner (azunga) and drive into a small village so obviously struggling with poverty and have these people be so joyous it’s really hard to describe the feeling in writing. Its cheesy I know but that’s it. After greeting and shaking every hand of the adults the village headman led us to the sites where CADECOMs livelihood recovery projects were being implemented. Three projects were currently ongoing – a livestock pass on program, deforestation mitigation and seed bank crops. They were so proud and joyous from the effort and hard work they were putting into the land, more so than any westerner I have ever seen.
During the walk to the projects all the children walked around me but were too shy to actually touch me. I tried to reach out to hold their hands but they backed away as if I had frightened them but then we all bust out laughing. It was all so simple and sweet and moving. Most of the children, although poor and raggedly dressed, appeared healthy. I only saw one girl who was visibly ill, a young girl suffering from trachoma (river blindness disease). There was a large white spot on her left eye from the parasite and both eyes were bloodshot. I asked Bernard (working in CADECOM Dedza where I will soon be working) if she would be OK and he said that it was still in the early stages and that she would be treated and not go blind. There was a new clinic built in the district and she would be treated there. I really hope so. He went on to say that trachoma was a much bigger problem in his day (30 yrs ago maybe I didn’t ask) but now with more hospitals being built and the implementation of mobile health clinics outreaching to the smaller remoter villages less children suffer the long term consequences of this disease.
While still struggling with poverty, there is a noticeable difference in the quality of life for the average Malawian, as a direct result of the development work being done. Disease incidence has decreased and more children are enrolled in primary school (but not so much secondary school). The work is making a difference but there is still so much to be done. As difficult as it may be to live here, both as an average Malawian or a Canadian adapting to this foreign land, I am truly glad to be here. I am confident that I can make some difference here, even if it is only small, a baby step of contribution. It will be time well spent.
I am excited to get to Dedza, the diocese where I will be working. I am looking forward to assessing the livelihood recovery projects ongoing in Dedza and whatever works stems from the assessment. Of course I expect it to be quite challenging but it will be time well spent. I knew it would be challenging before I even arrived, but that is want I want from my career. I need to do more than a desk job. And my work in SE Asia and now SE Africa will be just that. Wish me luck; I think I’ll need it!
Call me on my new cell phone!
Blog 3 – Call me! – Tuesday, July 15th, 2008
I bought a cell phone today. Yay! My local # is 040 595 44. Normally I would never publish my personal number on an open blog but I figure anybody who is going to make an effort to call me in Malawi is worth speaking to. J In order to call me internationally I think you need to add the country code (265) and drop the first number of the area code (0), try +265 40 595 44. If that doesn’t work send me an email/comment/ask the operator. Apparently I don’t have to pay for incoming calls so call me! I think that skyping my cell from your computer may be your best method, but an international calling card from your home phone would also do the trick. Oh, it is also important to note that I am GMT +01:00 time zone, that means I am 6 hrs ahead of ET (Ontario time) and 4.5 hrs ahead of NT.
I bought a cell phone today. Yay! My local # is 040 595 44. Normally I would never publish my personal number on an open blog but I figure anybody who is going to make an effort to call me in Malawi is worth speaking to. J In order to call me internationally I think you need to add the country code (265) and drop the first number of the area code (0), try +265 40 595 44. If that doesn’t work send me an email/comment/ask the operator. Apparently I don’t have to pay for incoming calls so call me! I think that skyping my cell from your computer may be your best method, but an international calling card from your home phone would also do the trick. Oh, it is also important to note that I am GMT +01:00 time zone, that means I am 6 hrs ahead of ET (Ontario time) and 4.5 hrs ahead of NT.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Chichewa
Monday, July 14th, 2008
Today was my first official day of orientation with the WUSC-Malawi team. I met everybody in the office: Jacob, Joyce, Lawrence, Mercy, Grace and Macdonald. They are all Malawians, however, their names are a constant reminder of the influence of British colonial rule. Their last names of course are Malawian and I have no recollection what they are off the top of my head. I’ll work on it.
The Malawian language is very difficult, mostly because the orders of the letters make no sense to me. The difference between English, French and Spanish really isn’t so bad when you start learning traditional African languages. I had my official Chichewan language lesson today, with Austin, my tutor. Man on man, I’m not sure but I am trying. I think I will be able to get the greetings down but there is no way I am going to gain fluency! So for those interested here is the basic greeting:
Muli bwanji?
Ndili bwino, kaya inu?
Ndili bwino, zikomo.
Zikomo.
This basically goes: How are you? I am fine and you? I am well thank you. Thank you.
You end all conversations with zikomo – thank you. That is a given. If you don’t greet someone then you are very rude, so basically I have to have this conversation (or one of the three versions of this – this is the general one, and there are also versions for the morning and the afternoon) with everyone I meet. Otherwise I will not be considered a kind person. It doesn’t seem that hard but try remembering how to pronounce this, listening to it in rapid speech, and not knowing which of the 3 versions to expect in the first half of the day. Their version of Hi is Moni, but it’s not used as much as the above greeting, sigh.
I also learned two other valuable language tidbits today. What we call pants (or slacks) Malawians consider to be underwear. So if I say to someone nice pants, they think I am talking about their underwear or panties! They call their slacks – trousers. I didn’t actually make that mistake today but they told me about that after I made the following mistake: Mercy handed me a menu today to order lunch. I wanted to try the local fish – chambo. I accidentally called it chamba. The difference between the o and a at the end of the word holds a big implication. Chamba means marijuana. So I ordered weed for lunch. lol. Too funny.
Besides the language lesson I met with the agriculture and sustainable livelihood sector specialist, Jacob, who is also Director of the WUSC Lilongwe office, and my bwana – boss. We went over the outline of my work expectations. He wanted my work to follow RBM – oh yes boys and girls RBM framework!! For those of you who did not do IPMP with me at Humber this past year, RBM is results based management and I know this project design method inside and out. My dreams are in RBM format (well not all of them). I was so relieved that the Malawian office wanted to use this format. You never quite know what you’re getting into with international partners in developing countries, so boy was I relieved when they started talking about objectives, activities, outputs, outcomes, impacts, beneficiaries and stakeholder meetings!! Geeky yes, but this is going to make my work so much more organized and easier to tackle – conceptually at least.
OK I am saving the biggest news for last. This is HUGE…I almost exploded when they told me. When talking to Jacob about the work plan and the livelihood recovery projects they were doing he recommended that I should work on their fishpond projects!! Yes fish fucking ponds!! And to think I almost never took this position because it was too terrestrial. Hahaha. Jacob said that after reviewing my cv and my publications he thought that I would be better suited to this area. I had no idea they were even doing aquaculture projects. So I am happy, happy. For my work plan we discussed the idea of me doing a rapid assessment of their fishpond projects and then making recommendations and holding workshops to help build capacity. He gave me a deadline of 2 weeks to come up with my objectives and activities with tasks. All this IPMP lingo and fishpond projects…my knees went weak and I began to swoon. I suppose I am in the honeymoon phase of my cross-culture experience, now I wait for the crash. I expect it will come when I am standing by the side of a pond wondering why I have to greet 10 people over and over whilst wondering why I can’t go somewhere that day for a meeting or an important email, and why its impossible for them to change a small behaviour deeply ingrained in their culture that would improve the whole situation…or maybe not. But I am trying to prepare for the eventuality in some way.
So basically I am looking forward to getting to Dedza on Friday. I assume not much will happen on the weekend but hopefully on Monday I’ll be able to get a look around the sites and see what I have to work with.
I know it has only been a few days that I’ve been here in Malawi but I have to admit that I feel really good about this placement. The WUSC Malawi office appears really supportive and organized. I hope that the other local NGO, CADECOM, will be as well.
Today was my first official day of orientation with the WUSC-Malawi team. I met everybody in the office: Jacob, Joyce, Lawrence, Mercy, Grace and Macdonald. They are all Malawians, however, their names are a constant reminder of the influence of British colonial rule. Their last names of course are Malawian and I have no recollection what they are off the top of my head. I’ll work on it.
The Malawian language is very difficult, mostly because the orders of the letters make no sense to me. The difference between English, French and Spanish really isn’t so bad when you start learning traditional African languages. I had my official Chichewan language lesson today, with Austin, my tutor. Man on man, I’m not sure but I am trying. I think I will be able to get the greetings down but there is no way I am going to gain fluency! So for those interested here is the basic greeting:
Muli bwanji?
Ndili bwino, kaya inu?
Ndili bwino, zikomo.
Zikomo.
This basically goes: How are you? I am fine and you? I am well thank you. Thank you.
You end all conversations with zikomo – thank you. That is a given. If you don’t greet someone then you are very rude, so basically I have to have this conversation (or one of the three versions of this – this is the general one, and there are also versions for the morning and the afternoon) with everyone I meet. Otherwise I will not be considered a kind person. It doesn’t seem that hard but try remembering how to pronounce this, listening to it in rapid speech, and not knowing which of the 3 versions to expect in the first half of the day. Their version of Hi is Moni, but it’s not used as much as the above greeting, sigh.
I also learned two other valuable language tidbits today. What we call pants (or slacks) Malawians consider to be underwear. So if I say to someone nice pants, they think I am talking about their underwear or panties! They call their slacks – trousers. I didn’t actually make that mistake today but they told me about that after I made the following mistake: Mercy handed me a menu today to order lunch. I wanted to try the local fish – chambo. I accidentally called it chamba. The difference between the o and a at the end of the word holds a big implication. Chamba means marijuana. So I ordered weed for lunch. lol. Too funny.
Besides the language lesson I met with the agriculture and sustainable livelihood sector specialist, Jacob, who is also Director of the WUSC Lilongwe office, and my bwana – boss. We went over the outline of my work expectations. He wanted my work to follow RBM – oh yes boys and girls RBM framework!! For those of you who did not do IPMP with me at Humber this past year, RBM is results based management and I know this project design method inside and out. My dreams are in RBM format (well not all of them). I was so relieved that the Malawian office wanted to use this format. You never quite know what you’re getting into with international partners in developing countries, so boy was I relieved when they started talking about objectives, activities, outputs, outcomes, impacts, beneficiaries and stakeholder meetings!! Geeky yes, but this is going to make my work so much more organized and easier to tackle – conceptually at least.
OK I am saving the biggest news for last. This is HUGE…I almost exploded when they told me. When talking to Jacob about the work plan and the livelihood recovery projects they were doing he recommended that I should work on their fishpond projects!! Yes fish fucking ponds!! And to think I almost never took this position because it was too terrestrial. Hahaha. Jacob said that after reviewing my cv and my publications he thought that I would be better suited to this area. I had no idea they were even doing aquaculture projects. So I am happy, happy. For my work plan we discussed the idea of me doing a rapid assessment of their fishpond projects and then making recommendations and holding workshops to help build capacity. He gave me a deadline of 2 weeks to come up with my objectives and activities with tasks. All this IPMP lingo and fishpond projects…my knees went weak and I began to swoon. I suppose I am in the honeymoon phase of my cross-culture experience, now I wait for the crash. I expect it will come when I am standing by the side of a pond wondering why I have to greet 10 people over and over whilst wondering why I can’t go somewhere that day for a meeting or an important email, and why its impossible for them to change a small behaviour deeply ingrained in their culture that would improve the whole situation…or maybe not. But I am trying to prepare for the eventuality in some way.
So basically I am looking forward to getting to Dedza on Friday. I assume not much will happen on the weekend but hopefully on Monday I’ll be able to get a look around the sites and see what I have to work with.
I know it has only been a few days that I’ve been here in Malawi but I have to admit that I feel really good about this placement. The WUSC Malawi office appears really supportive and organized. I hope that the other local NGO, CADECOM, will be as well.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Welcome to Malawi – Sunday, July 13, 2008
Here I am in Malawi ‘The Warm Heart of Africa’. I arrived in Lilongwe about 10am Saturday morning (July 12/08). Macdonld, who works at the WUS-Malawi office, met me at the airport (with his 2 darling little girls) and drove me in the company 4x4 truck to the Crescent guesthouse where I am currently staying. I had been travelling for almost 2 days and the flights (Toronto-Amsterdam-Nairobi-Lilongwe) were long and sleepless. Last night was the first night I had more than 3 hrs sleep over the past 3 days. I went to bed at 8pm, slept for 14 hrs and then I only got up because I had a meeting at 11am with Macdonald. I know this will get a little better each day. Already today I feel much more rested.
Yesterday, despite my serious case of jetlag (somehow much worse than my travel to Vietnam), I managed to meet some great expats already. On the plane I sat next to a guy who has been working in Malawi for some time now and we chatted a fair bit and exchanged cards (yes I did up general business cards – gotta look like a development professional now!!). I learned a few phrases in Chichewa the National Lauguage of Malawi: muli bwanji – a general greeting like how are you; ndiri bweno zikomo - I am fine, thank you; zikomo – thank you, moni moni - hi. A funny saying for white people to say to little kids is “sharp sharp”, say it really fast with you thumbs up and the kids smile and laugh at you and give you the thumbs up back. Not sure how this originated but its great. The children are soooo cute here – you just want to squeeze them. In general everyone is really nice and friendly. I’ve noticed that when you are walking with a local Malawian (say either Fred the GH manager, or Macdonld from work) other locals will not bother me, but when I am walking by myself the beggars or souvenir sellers will approach. I try to politely but forcefully refuse. I’ve met 6 other Canadian girls from the University of Ottawa who are working here in Lilongwe on a 2 months placement. They are working on gender projects and health/nutrition projects. They are also staying at the Crescent GH. We’re all going out for dinner tonight (on the WUSC tab! Sweet!).
My official orientation for work starts tomorrow morning (Monday) 0830am and will run through Tuesday. Tuesday afternoon I am going to Mangochi (at town about 3-4hrs away, at the southern region of Lake Malawi) where there will be meetings with WUS-Malawi and CADECOM (the local NGO I will be working with). These meetings will go until Friday, when I am supposed to move to Dedza (a small town 1hr south of Lilongwe, on the border with Mozambique). As far as I can tell, the agricultural livelihood recovery projects that I will be assessing will be in the Dedza area. But I will find out more about this later on the week, hopefully.
OK so general impressions so far:
1. Electricity is a little dodgy. There was a power outage here last night that lasted a couple hrs. There are also no streetlights. So at night it is dark. Everybody tries to stay off the streets at night and now I understand and appreciate that. I’ve already used the headlamp that I brought with me, and the other girls had some candles too. The sun is up for 12hrs a day – typical for the equatorial areas I think - 6am to 6pm and when it gets dark, it gets dark fast. I’ll be keeping my mini flashlight in my handbag.
2. It is really dry and dusty here. Only the main roads are paved, and there are no sidewalks. Beware of fast driving trucks and ditches. Eek. I’m using tons of chapstick here b/c of the dryness, and I wear my sunglasses out a lot, not just for the bright sun but b/c of the dust. The dry season is April to Oct, the rains and humidity will come in Nov-March.
3. My family would not believe me when I told them it was going to be colder here in Lilongwe than Canada. But I swear it is true. The temp yesterday was 24C, and today its 20C. At night it went down to 8C. There is a light afternoon breeze too. It’s dry and not humid. If you don’t believe me you can check the international weather websites, the weather network has this feature too.
4. There is a lot of poverty here. You can see women walking down the road with piles of firewood on their heads that they use to cook their seima/maize meal (a staple crop like corn). Most women cook their food over open fires, with the smoke going right into their face and eyes and lungs. I can’t imagine the health problems that may occur from this. I have a stove/oven at the GH. But despite the poverty, everybody is so happy; they smile constantly and laugh a lot. I guess in a way all you can do is laugh about the things you simply cannot change.
I know my fellow classmates - IPMPers - have faith in my survival skills and believe that I am fine, and usually a quick email will reassure them. But for my friends and family rest assured really I am fine. I admit there is a lot I don’t know, and many things are strange, but I feel that I will be able to learn and adapt to this new living situation and culture. I will be keeping in touch regularly and I really want to hear stories from home, what’s happening in Canada (when I can’t download the BBC or the CBC national news online), and of course about the travels and internships of my fellow classmates. I miss you all!! Take are and stay safe!
Cheers, Kelly
Yesterday, despite my serious case of jetlag (somehow much worse than my travel to Vietnam), I managed to meet some great expats already. On the plane I sat next to a guy who has been working in Malawi for some time now and we chatted a fair bit and exchanged cards (yes I did up general business cards – gotta look like a development professional now!!). I learned a few phrases in Chichewa the National Lauguage of Malawi: muli bwanji – a general greeting like how are you; ndiri bweno zikomo - I am fine, thank you; zikomo – thank you, moni moni - hi. A funny saying for white people to say to little kids is “sharp sharp”, say it really fast with you thumbs up and the kids smile and laugh at you and give you the thumbs up back. Not sure how this originated but its great. The children are soooo cute here – you just want to squeeze them. In general everyone is really nice and friendly. I’ve noticed that when you are walking with a local Malawian (say either Fred the GH manager, or Macdonld from work) other locals will not bother me, but when I am walking by myself the beggars or souvenir sellers will approach. I try to politely but forcefully refuse. I’ve met 6 other Canadian girls from the University of Ottawa who are working here in Lilongwe on a 2 months placement. They are working on gender projects and health/nutrition projects. They are also staying at the Crescent GH. We’re all going out for dinner tonight (on the WUSC tab! Sweet!).
My official orientation for work starts tomorrow morning (Monday) 0830am and will run through Tuesday. Tuesday afternoon I am going to Mangochi (at town about 3-4hrs away, at the southern region of Lake Malawi) where there will be meetings with WUS-Malawi and CADECOM (the local NGO I will be working with). These meetings will go until Friday, when I am supposed to move to Dedza (a small town 1hr south of Lilongwe, on the border with Mozambique). As far as I can tell, the agricultural livelihood recovery projects that I will be assessing will be in the Dedza area. But I will find out more about this later on the week, hopefully.
OK so general impressions so far:
1. Electricity is a little dodgy. There was a power outage here last night that lasted a couple hrs. There are also no streetlights. So at night it is dark. Everybody tries to stay off the streets at night and now I understand and appreciate that. I’ve already used the headlamp that I brought with me, and the other girls had some candles too. The sun is up for 12hrs a day – typical for the equatorial areas I think - 6am to 6pm and when it gets dark, it gets dark fast. I’ll be keeping my mini flashlight in my handbag.
2. It is really dry and dusty here. Only the main roads are paved, and there are no sidewalks. Beware of fast driving trucks and ditches. Eek. I’m using tons of chapstick here b/c of the dryness, and I wear my sunglasses out a lot, not just for the bright sun but b/c of the dust. The dry season is April to Oct, the rains and humidity will come in Nov-March.
3. My family would not believe me when I told them it was going to be colder here in Lilongwe than Canada. But I swear it is true. The temp yesterday was 24C, and today its 20C. At night it went down to 8C. There is a light afternoon breeze too. It’s dry and not humid. If you don’t believe me you can check the international weather websites, the weather network has this feature too.
4. There is a lot of poverty here. You can see women walking down the road with piles of firewood on their heads that they use to cook their seima/maize meal (a staple crop like corn). Most women cook their food over open fires, with the smoke going right into their face and eyes and lungs. I can’t imagine the health problems that may occur from this. I have a stove/oven at the GH. But despite the poverty, everybody is so happy; they smile constantly and laugh a lot. I guess in a way all you can do is laugh about the things you simply cannot change.
I know my fellow classmates - IPMPers - have faith in my survival skills and believe that I am fine, and usually a quick email will reassure them. But for my friends and family rest assured really I am fine. I admit there is a lot I don’t know, and many things are strange, but I feel that I will be able to learn and adapt to this new living situation and culture. I will be keeping in touch regularly and I really want to hear stories from home, what’s happening in Canada (when I can’t download the BBC or the CBC national news online), and of course about the travels and internships of my fellow classmates. I miss you all!! Take are and stay safe!
Cheers, Kelly
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