Africa at a glance

Friday, Aug 29, 2008

After writing my last entry I feel I need to write a more positive letter. I don’t want to project the image that Africa is a land full of misery and suffering - because it is not. As I have tried to explain to many people (some successfully, others not so much), Africa is not just what you see on the news. We have to keep in mind that the majority of the newscasts and mass media only present negative stories. (Really think back to when a headline expressed good news or at least something not so pessimistic – go ahead read today’s headlines – I’ll wait, my blog will still be here when you finish). There is a whole other side to Africa that the average North American never sees. Its not because we are ignorant, its just that the average person has little control over what they see in the media, and have even lesser access to this information unless you really hunt for it.

I wanted to take some time to dispel some of the common myths people have about Africa. Or at least the comments people made to me before I left the ‘safety’ of Toronto.

1) It’s a jungle out there. Yes and No. There are so many different types of landscapes here. a) Deserts – the Sahara in the north and the Kalahari in the southeast. b) Savannahs (kind of like drier prairies). This is what its like here in Malawi at the moment. Dry, dispersed vegetation, tall grasses. c) Mountains with snow. Remember that it gets colder with elevation (the higher up you go). The Atlas Mountains in the NE, and the Great Rift Mountains in the west – home of Mt. Kilaminjaro - the 2nd highest mountain in the world. d) Jungles. Yes, lots of rain forest, just like you see on TV. Not so much here in Malawi though. e) Great Lakes – like the great lakes in Ontario, there are great lakes in Africa, very near where I am actually, e.g. Lake Malawi, Lake Victoria. The lakes are vast and fresh and full of fish. I might dare to say even better than the Great Lakes of Canada. In Sum, think about it this way – as you drive across Canada or the US how many different landscapes and temperatures will you encounter? Is Alberta the same as Newfoundland? Ontario the same as Nunavut? Africa is as wide and vast as Canada.

2) It’s hot, hot, hot! Yes and No. As with the varied landscape, there is varied climate. To be honest, I believed this myth too. When I packed my bag I threw in my jeans and fleece just in case I did some hiking in the mountains. But I was soooo glad I brought them. At night it really cools down. At the moment I sleep with 2 blankets on my bed and I wear a sweater to work. This is mostly because I am staying in a town at an elevation of 5300ft. People who live near Lake Malawi have it warmer. It’s also important to keep in mind that Malawi is in the Southern Hemisphere and its winter here now. While the daytime high is 15-20ºC and nighttime low 10ºC at the moment, in a couple months the temp will be sweltering, just like you thought it would be. But of course, we only hear limited information on Africa’s climate. Just remember one thing – just because you are closer to the equator doesn’t mean that it is hot hot hot!

3) Everybody is poor. Yes and No. While so many people live in extreme poverty there are also millions of people who live quite comfortably. For instance, the woman I live with has 2 degrees, a jeep, laptop, her own house, complete with furniture, electricity, plumbing and servant. Lilongwe has a city centre full of banks, hotels, shops, businesses all with people dressed in such sharp suits they would blend in easily on Front & Bay streets. The downtown section is alive with bars, restaurants, schools, markets, cafes, beauty parlours, etc. I go out for lunch with girlfriends and then have a mani-pedi on the weekend. In that same salon are Malawian women getting their nails done too. I suppose the big difference is that, while most of the western luxuries are available in Malawi and Africa in general, the majority of the population can not afford them.

4) Everybody is sick. No, not everybody. While it is a sad reality that many illnesses and disease are rampant in Africa not every person is sick. For example, the HIV prevalence rate in Malawi is 14% - that means 14% of the population has HIV, but that also means that 86% of the population does not have HIV. If you got a mark of 86% on a final exam you’d be pretty happy about that right? So let’s keep it in context. There are occasional disease outbreaks but how the media portrays them are another matter altogether. When a newscaster reports a story about an outbreak of… oh I don’t know… lets say… Ebola, its hard for the average person to grasp exactly where that outbreak is on a map of a place they barely recognize, so they associate the disease with the whole continent. Congo/Malawi its all Africa right? No! It’s the same as suggesting that an outbreak of meningitis in Vancouver is going affect New York. It’s all North America right? (Sigh)

5) Africa is at war. A few spots yes and but mostly no. A very short history is needed here to understand. There are ~50 countries in Africa; most of these were occupied by European colonists a century ago. They fought for their independence and won it (just like the US did). Its just that since it happened ~50 times and within the last century that’s why it seems like its been at war for so long. Today I’d guess that >80% of the continent is at peace. When I go outside there are no armies and guerrilla fighters roaming the streets. Only children running and playing, the parents walking to the shops or home from work. There are so many of smiling faces. I hear more laughter here than I do in Toronto. There is significantly less gun violence and gun-related death in Lilongwe than Toronto, although I think the numbers of street gangs may be the same. With all that said there are some wars/armed conflicts ongoing in Africa. The DR Congo, Sudan and Somalia are the 3 that come to mind. Again lets put this in perspective – 3 of out 50 countries in conflict (and lest we forget that Canada and the US are currently engaged in an armed conflict with Afghanistan). What I’m trying to get at here is that history weighs heavily on Africa. But the here and now is different, its just that most of us don’t know that and we can thank our education system and the media for this ignorance. Seriously, Malawi is very peaceful - poor but peaceful.

6) All the politicians are corrupt. This is a tough one. For sure there are some nutter dictator/self-proclaimed presidents-for-life in power here in Africa, but they are few. And the ones historically prominent (e.g. Idi Amin of Uganda) tend to stereotype our minds. While today we see images of presidents like Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe in the newscast he is only but one president. There are so many other countries that hold democratic elections and have legitimate government representation, like Malawi. As for corruption, that’s a harder issue to debate. It’s not so transparent. But I do think that it’s not only the countries of Africa that suffer from it but also countries all around the world. Do we believe in the integrity of the Bush Administration? The former Liberal party? Thoughts to ponder that’s all.

I don’t know if this has cleared up some of the misconceptions we’ve been struggling with. I wish I could just take you all along with me to show you what I mean, what I’ve learned. I know words on a screen only go so far. Just try to keep an open-mind about this place, put things is perspective and take what the nightly newscast says with a grain of salt.