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!