Second month in Malawi

My second month has been a more ‘active’ month in terms of work to do with my project. I have started visiting the pre-schools which is the central part of my work and it has been a great experience so far. Ray is coming to the end of his time in Malawi so I have been visiting pre-schools with him to allow us to do a handover where he has been teaching and informing me about everything I need to know in regards to the pre-schools, including exactly how to get to each one.

There are 32 pre-schools in the program and each DI has at least 10 pre-schools each to look after. We walk to all of them and my furthest pre-school is about 2 hours away and the closest is around 40 minutes. The pre-schools run from 8:00-11:00am, Monday to Friday. Depending on where the school is I usually leave anywhere between 6:00 and 7:00am each day, which means 5:00-6:00am wake ups. I am an early bird though so it’s been no problem for me.

We normally visit the pre-schools with a supervisor to help with translation if the teachers don’t speak English. Luckily in almost all of mine I am able to communicate with the teacher in English. There have been some problems with the supervisors though so I actually haven’t been going with any of them really and just with Ray or on my own. We follow the same schedule each week, but after the first 3 weeks I changed mine to co-ordinate with other activities I have in the afternoons, depending on how far away I have to come from and then travel back to get to the afternoon destination.

We spend many hours a day walking. On Tuesdays I have Youth club in the afternoon and Wednesdays I have English class, and I normally get back to the college from pre-schools anywhere between 1 or 2 hours before I have to leave again to get to these activities. This gives me time to sit down and take a short rest and have some lunch. It can be tiring but I am quite used to it. On these days sometimes I am walking for almost 12 hours – it’s good for the body and soul! What keeps me motivated is the fact that I am helping people and contributing to making a difference.

Visiting each school has allowed me to see the school conditions, teaching methods, materials or lack of materials, the food situation, among other things, and of course to meet and communicate with the teachers and kiddies. Each school is quite different but also many of the things they teach are the same. ABC’s, numbers, English words, games, songs, etc.

The teachers are all volunteers and each pre-school usually has one or two teachers. There are also normally ten committee members per school who are also volunteers. The committee members are supposed to be responsible for helping with various needs of the school and children, which can consist of anything from cooking porridge for break time, helping with construction of a classroom, fetching water, cleaning up, maintaining the garden if there is one, and plenty of other things. It’s a nice idea but the problem is it’s not consistent across all the schools and some committee members are more active and involved in some schools than others, if at all really.

Some schools don’t have a classroom so they are either using the teacher’s house and the classroom could either be outside or a room in the teacher’s house. But usually it’s outside because for the amount of children there are they don’t fit into the small room that is there. Some have a classroom which is usually just a room that varies in size in each school and is made of bricks. The bricks are all hand made with mud and water by committee members or other people in the community. It’s quite an interesting process. They lay hundreds of bricks on top of each other into something like the shape of a house and then they make a hole so they can light a fire inside which burns the bricks. I think they do this for some hours and then leave the bricks to cool for 5 or 6 days which allows them to set and become quite hard.

Some schools have a blackboard (a piece of wood painted black which enables use of chalk for writing). Some schools have various materials such as laminated numbers, letters and pictures of different objects which were given to some of the schools by other DI’s. I think these came from some people that visited from Denmark. If they have the resources, some teachers use their initiative and make some materials with numbers or letters on them by just writing on a big scrap of paper. Some schools have writing on the walls with mud that has numbers, letters, pictures and other things that can be useful for the kids.

Each DI that works with the pre-school program has a different vision of what to focus on in the period. For example, Ray was concentrating on building classrooms if the school didn’t have one and making sure the schools were actually opening each day because sometimes you find that you will show up one morning and the teacher has decided not to open the school. Sometimes it’s because there is a funeral, a holiday or a so-called ‘holiday’, and sometimes it’s for no good reason at all. Maybe the teacher had something personal to attend to that, where I come from wouldn’t warrant not opening a school.

I met a primary school teacher one day when I was walking back to Amalika from visiting pre-schools. It was a Monday at around 11:30am and I found out she had graduated from the Chilangoma Teacher Training College in 2009. I asked her why she wasn’t at school and she laughed and said because she had other things to do today like her washing. I told her that wasn’t good and she should think about the kids and that from Monday to Friday she should work and the weekend should be for doing her washing and other things like this. She told me she understood and she wouldn’t do it again. But I know that probably if she feels like it she would do it again. Sometimes these are the types of reasons given for not going to work or not opening a pre-school and this is where the struggle continues with changing the way people think about certain things and making them understand why something is important.

Another example that happened recently and happens a lot is the teacher doesn’t open the school on time. I arrived at one of the pre-schools at 8:00am for opening time and there was no sign of the teacher but around 6 or 7 kids just hanging around the classroom, some inside, some outside, but no adult at all. I saw an old lady nearby who I went and greeted and she said something about the teacher in Chichewa and headed in the direction of the teacher’s house. So I waited with the kids. Then a young boy came over to me who spoke English and it turned out to be the teacher’s little brother. He said she was bathing and that she would come soon. He helped me set up the classroom with the blackboard and mat for the kids to sit on and I asked him if we could get the kids to sing some songs while we waited. At 8:30 the teacher showed up and I asked her why she didn’t come here at 8:00 to open the school and she just laughed and that was it. Sometimes I don’t know how seriously they take things but also realise that time doesn’t really matter to them so no one is really that bothered about waiting or making people wait.

My visions are different to Ray’s and the two major priorities I have are with the nutrition of the kids and the teaching methods. In some schools the kids bring some food from home, and in some schools, sometimes, there is porridge cooked for the kids by committee members. But it is not consistent so the kids don’t always get food. I have found out that there are several organizations that have feeding programs in some of the primary schools, so what I am trying to do is put together a proposal of the amount of pre-schools we have, the number of kids and various other pieces of data, approach these organizations and find out what possibilities there are of bringing the program to these pre-schools. It bothers me a lot that the kids don’t get enough of what they need or the right amount of nutrients in their diet, so this is my main priority.

From the first day I could see the problem with some of the teaching techniques used by the teachers. Many times you see the kids are just repeating what the teacher says and not understanding what they are repeating. Many teachers teach the order of letters in the alphabet or numbers from 1 to 10, but it seems the kids don’t really know how to recognise these letters or numbers. The days of the week and months of the year are also taught, but don’t seem to be taught in a way that the children know what they are. They just repeat the words and remember the order when the teacher asks them.  Some schools seem to be better than others and sometimes it seems like the kids can recognise or know the difference, but mostly not.

The kids are also taught what they call “introduction.” When they are asked to say the introduction, again they just repeat what the teacher has told them in the same order. My name is…. I am a girl. I am ….years old. I go to ….. school. I live at…. etc But I think if someone asked them one of these questions individually, they would not be able to answer it because they do not understand what the question is asking them. It is quite clear because a child stands up and says, “Introduction. My name is, I am a, I live at…. You get the point.

For sure, the highlight of visiting the pre-schools is the kids. They are absolutely wonderful and always a pleasure to visit. Some of them jump on you, want to be picked up, want to hold your hand or sit next to you and some of them cry their eyes out because they are scared of you! These kids, with next to nothing, are so happy and I’m sorry to say, could teach some of our ‘western world’ kids a thing or two about appreciation and spirit.

Being “azungu” in Malawi feels like you are a celebrity sometimes. At least from some of the experiences I have had. For example, one day Ray and I went to visit a pre-school and because of some circumstances we needed to go and see the Pastor that is linked to the pre-school and community about the building of a classroom. His house is right opposite a primary school, so when Ray and I walked past the school the kids were all outside and saw us walk to the Pastor’s place and immediately followed us. The Pastor was sitting out the front of his house and we joined him and discussed some things with him. The entire time hundreds of kids were all crowded around us, just curiously looking at us and watching everything. Many of them pushed each other out of the way so they could try and be closer to us than their friends. Something like this at home would be if there were celebrities or important people and everyone would be crowded around trying to get a glimpse of you. They want to be where you are and see what you are doing. When we left the kids followed us and were so excited when we were talking to them and wanted us to take pictures of them.

Another example is that one of the pre-schools I visit is near another primary school and when they know “azungu” are visiting they come crowding around to see what we are doing. It happens at this pre-school every time, and it’s not good because this school is the teacher’s house, and it’s quite disruptive when she is trying to teach. Ray and I actually had to go and ask the teachers at the primary school to control their kids, but of course they keep coming back every week.

I am always being followed by kids when walking past the villages. One day in particular I was walking back to Amalika from pre-schools and about 20 kids were following me for ages, asking my name, where I was going and wanting to hold my hand or walk next to me. Again, they were pushing each other aside so they could walk closest to me. This kind of thing happens almost every day and the kiddies are so sweet.

Each month there is supposed to be a pre-school workshop that is run by us DI’s and the pre-school supervisors for pre-school teachers and committee members. Usually the pre-school teachers come one month and the committee members come another month, although I’ve heard that we don’t always do them every month but every two or three months.

A few weeks ago we had a workshop for the teachers, which was from 9:00am to 3:00pm. We invited two teachers/representatives from each school because of the fact some schools have more than one teacher. When we sent the invitation letters out though we told them we would be starting by 7:30, because most teachers would more than likely arrive at least an hour or more late (African time!). And we were right to do so because by just before 9 o’clock, practically everyone that intended on coming was there and ready for us to start on time. Amazing!

Usually there is a headline for the day and we give presentations relating to the headline. So our chosen headline this time was the Teacher Training College motto, “Make Learners, Learn More.” I made a presentation about Teachers, Children and Teaching Methods, Ray presented the Importance of Using Teaching Materials, Krisztina presented the Importance of Music as a Resource or Teaching Method, Sarah presented Learning Theories and Gift, one of the supervisors made a presentation about Indoor and Outdoor Play. There was also a song and theatre play in Chichewa presented by some 2010 students.

As the native language is Chichewa and many of the teachers don’t speak much English or at all, we had translation from English into Chichewa for each of our presentations. One of the 2010 students, Fanizo was our translator, and each sentence or two we spoke in English he translated into Chichewa. Even though there was translation it was hard to tell how well we got the message through because many of the teachers looked bored and didn’t always seem to be paying attention. But we understand that it’s because they are not used to sitting listening to presentations for long periods of time, and especially because they are mostly in English, they probably tend to ‘switch off’ half the time. Plus it seemed that the teachers mostly just came for the food more than anything. Many of them complained their portions weren’t big enough but actually they were absolutely huge! They saved a lot of leftovers in plastic bags to take with them. I don’t blame them though because many have families to feed and they are unfortunately quite poor, some worse than others.

We have taken note of several things from this workshop and discussed how we don’t think it’s so useful to stand in front of the teachers and speak for long periods of time and just have them sit there. So we thought about ways we can make it better for them the next time and more interactive, perhaps with small groups and getting them more involved.

Every so often we receive bags of shoes of many sizes from donors to distribute between the pre-schools for the kids. In this last 6 months there have been 2 or 3 “Shoe Actions” to give shoes to the kids and we had another one just recently. We made an agreement that we would only give shoes to children who come to pre-school regularly. Many parents don’t send their kids to school, but what normally happens is when they find out that we are giving shoes then suddenly they send their kids. This is obviously really bad and what we tried to do this time was change the parents’ minds. We want parents to send their children to school because it’s important for them to learn and begin their education at an early age. We don’t want parents to send their children to school only because they get free shoes.

We also find a lot of the time that when teachers hear we are giving shoes away they add more kid’s names to their attendance lists. So, all of this makes it hard to see if we should even give shoes in the first place. Of course we would love to give shoes (plus so much more) to all the kids and their families, but what we don’t want to do is lose sight of something that continues to be a problem and that is local people expecting ‘free handouts’ all the time. Even aside from the shoes, every day we are asked for money or other things and this is not why we are here.

Just a quick thing on this – one of the pre-school supervisors, Joseph, explained that a reason why Malawian people ask foreigners for money all the time is because the ex-President, Hastings Banda, continuously asked many countries for foreign aid, and so the people see this and do the same thing. The dependence of foreign aid comes from the top and carries through the nation’s people… and the struggle continues.

Something else that I have been involved in for a few weeks is visiting a primary school in Blantyre with Ray and doing creative arts with the kids. They are at the ages of around 12-14 years old. One week we asked them to draw what they did on their recent school holidays, then another week we made masks and another week we made a huge sign they could hang up in the class where the kids drew the school’s name and pictures of whatever they wanted to draw. It has been really nice because as well as visiting pre-schools it’s also nice to see the older kids in primary school to get an idea of how things are run. It’s also nice to get out of Amalika during the week and go to the shops and markets for some groceries and have lunch outside for a change.

Some more involvement I have with kids is a youth club that used to be held in Amalika for kids in the closest villages and run by Ray and Sarah, but recently there was a change of plans because it was noted that coming to Amalika seemed to be too far of a walk for the kids and that maybe they wouldn’t get back to their homes by dark. So Ray and I made a meeting with the headmaster of one of the local primary schools which also happens to be where I teach English, and asked if we could use his school for youth club so it would be closer for all the kids, seeing as though they all attend his school. So now I have taken over from Sarah and Ray and I had a couple of weeks of youth club together, but because Ray is leaving soon it is just me for now until another Development Instructor arrives at our project. We made a new plan with some structure where we do different activities on a 4-weekly basis. Week 1 – games, week 2 – creative arts, week 3 – education and week 4 – music. So far we have played some games and done creative arts and it’s been really nice. The kids are all really keen and happy and love to draw and learn new games. There are also many kids from the village that don’t go to the school but come and have a look at what we are doing so we welcome them to join us too and they love it.

English class is going well and I now have around 10 new students in my class. One Wednesday afternoon I was getting ready for my lesson in the classroom and all these new people started walking in, mostly women. I asked if they were here for English class and they said yes. I wasn’t prepared at all for so many new people because I also did not know of their levels of English and most likely they were all at different levels. The headmaster of the school walked in and mentioned the new students. He said he enrolled them for me. I said to him that he could have told me he was going to do that because I wasn’t prepared for this and he asked me if I was going to send them away. I said of course not and that everyone is welcome, but just that he should communicate so I know to be prepared. He didn’t seem to understand the concept of this. Anyway, I had to try and improvise at first but then realised the lesson that I had planned was not too difficult so I used what I intended to anyway and it all worked out fine. TIA. This is Africa.

A rather memorable “This is Africa” moment I had recently was something that I heard can happen over here but never actually thought it would happen to me. I was asked by one of the teachers if I could help the 2009 students with a discussion/debate they were going to have about ethics. So right on time at 7:00pm (I never learn) on a Wednesday evening I went to the dining hall where I was told the debate was going to be held. But no one was around except for some students finishing their dinner. I went to the kitchen and saw one of the project leaders and asked him if he knew anything about the ethics debate and he said no but he called the teacher that organised it. He said that there was miscommunication during the day and that the students were in their hostels but that one of the teachers was going to get them.
I went to the staffroom and saw the teacher that asked me to help and he said the students would be there at 7:30pm but he was busy so couldn’t attend and another teacher would be there conducting things. I told him if they don’t come by then I can’t wait around because I had to finish my pre-school workshop presentation and that I went to the dining hall on time to start but no one was there.

I waited until 7:30pm and still no one was there yet so I went back to my house. Then about 10 minutes later one of the teachers knocked on the door and said the students were there and they were waiting for me. So I said I would come in 2 minutes. Then when I got there I sat down at a table and all the students moved to the front closer to me. The teacher then asked me, “Do you want to use the board?” I said, “What do you mean?” And she said, “We are having your course tonight, do you need the board?” I laughed in shock and said that I had no idea about giving a course and was only asked if I could help with a debate, which by the way is a topic I don’t know a whole lot about so wouldn’t be able to get up and give a course anyway, and that no one told me anything about presenting!

The students were all staring at me asking why can’t I get up there and I explained to them that no one even told me I was giving a course, I was only asked to help with a debate so I couldn’t just get up there. They didn’t seem to understand this concept. Then they asked if I could give the course the next night and I told them I was sorry but I didn’t have time because I also had a presentation to prepare for the pre-school workshop and one of them said, “So you are saying you don’t have time for us?!” I said no of course that’s not what I’m saying and tried to explain myself. It was such an uncomfortable situation and the teacher asked me if I should send the students away and I said that I was sorry but yes she should. I was so mad and I could see that the students looked disappointed, even though it was a result of something that wasn’t even anything to do with me!

I went to the staff room to speak to the teacher that was in the hall with me and told her that what just happened in there was not good and that there was no communication at all and how could they do that, etc, etc. She acknowledged that there was miscommunication but it didn’t really seem to bother her that things happened like that.

The next day I spoke to the teacher who had originally asked me to help and told him that he knew I wasn’t aware I was supposed to give a course, so why did he let the other teacher go and get all the students from their rooms for a course I was supposed to be giving. He said that he was sorry and it was supposed to be a debate where they presented the topic to the students but that it wasn’t prepared properly and it shouldn’t have been turned into me giving a course, but somehow it did. I told him that even if I was supposed to give a course that he didn’t even ask me if I knew anything about the topic and didn’t give me any information at all about anything, and that I was under the impression I would be observing what was going on and offering feedback if and where possible, etc, etc. He apologised and said he would make sure things were handled better in future, but I wonder how this kind of thing happens! This is how it went… I got a knock at the door one night and Magura, the teacher said:
“We have a debate about ‘Ethics’ on Wednesday night with the 2009 students, can you help us?”
Me: “No problem, what time?”
Magura: “7-8pm.”
Me: “That’s fine, I will see you then.”
The end…. Can you believe it?!!!! TIA!!!!  J

I was asked to help with being on one of the teacher’s panels while students made thesis presentations about a certain topic to conclude the completion of the first period’s subject “The World in Which We Live.” This was a really interesting experience for me because I was able to learn of many of the different areas the students had studied and had the chance to provide feedback on their presentations.

Out of the 64 students they were divided into groups of around 10 or so to present in different classrooms, and there were judging panels of 3, 4 or 5 teachers. We had a feedback form to fill out for each student which included such things as: (Ability to grasp subject area, presentation of introduction, personal appearance, relevance of information presented, presentation materials used and conclusion, among other things). One of the teachers said that each one of us should take a turn at marking the students while they were presenting but I told him that it would be better if we let the students present so that we could give them our full attention throughout their presentation. Then we could discuss as a panel what we thought, give our opinions and come to an agreement on how we graded the students. So this method was agreed upon.

Students presented such topics as child development, HIV/AIDS, the Greenhouse Effect, human rights, health and personal development, etc. The overall level of the students’ presentations was quite poor but it was an interesting process to have discussions with these teachers after each student presented because more often than not the final decision was ‘swayed’ by my opinion. I expected what it was going to be like, but was interesting to see that some things that some of the teachers thought were very good, I didn’t think was good at all. And many times I gave them constructive reasons as to why I thought it wasn’t good, and also made the comparison between students, saying, ‘do we think that this student presented better than this student?’ or ‘this student didn’t use any materials but made a better argument in this way, although didn’t answer our questions as well as this student.’ etc, etc.

It turned out that all the other groups had finished going through all their student’s presentations so some of the students in our group were sent to another room to present so we could try and get through everyone in good time. When I heard about this I was slightly disappointed because I knew probably in all the other rooms they would have just raced through deliberating about each student’s presentation, not properly deciding on the final marks and most likely gave better marks than deserved because somehow, like I’ve mentioned before, there is no constructive criticism.

After the presentations were all finished and the students went to do other things, the teachers had a meeting to conclude how we thought the day went. The project leader made a small speech about how it seemed to be quite successful and then we went around the room to get everyone’s opinions, or lack of opinion I should say. It seemed like I had the only constructive thing to speak about which was this… First I asked how much practice the students get at doing presentations and speaking in front of each other or if it was their first time. I was told it was their first time and I said that it was obvious and we could clearly see this judging by the standard of many of them. I also suggested that for the future study periods that they should include more presentation tasks for the students instead of just asking them to present something right at the end of the period, because the more practice they get, the more they will improve and can learn from each time. I gave them examples of some of the things I did in Denmark and that it was an area I improved in and they welcomed my feedback and said they will try and implement this. As we went around the room to all the other teachers, the extent of the feedback went something like this…
“It was a very nice day, and I think everyone did really well…”
“I think it was a very successful day… “
“I agree with what the others said, it was a good day….”
“Yes, we did very well and it was very nice….”
TIA… It’s the way it is…

I mentioned African time in my last blog. Something that has become quite evident here is that when you want to do something, you should do it “now, now.” This is a term that I hear all the time and if you don’t do it “now, now” then either it won’t get done or by the time you get around to doing it, it could be months later. My example is giving courses to the students in the college. Since I got here I have been trying to find a timeslot to give a course about Australia as an evening program. But somehow or another, now two months on, I still haven’t been able to do it. Every time I speak to the head teacher or one of the lecturers in charge about doing my course, they always say it’s no problem, we will fit you in, but then something comes up or things get moved around. I have also been told I can choose a regular night each week to give courses but this has also not been possible so far.

In the middle of October there is a music festival called “Lake of Stars” which I am going to with Ray and some DI’s from other projects.  Many, many local and some international musicians play over a 3 day period in an area called Mangochi which is heading towards the central part of Malawi, south of Lilongwe and North of where I live, and obviously right near Lake Malawi. We are planning to camp and it should be a great experience. It costs 7500 Kwacha which is around £30. So that’s really cheap by UK/European/US/Australian standards but for here it is quite expensive and probably will mostly be tourists or foreigners because most local people for sure can’t afford that. It takes around 9 hours to get to Mangochi from where we are, so to break up the trip, Ray and I have decided to leave some days earlier and make a stopover in a place called Zomba which has a nice mountain we would like to see. Then we will also stopover near Lake Malawi a day or two before the festival to relax and spend some time on the beaches. Then it’s 3 days of festival fun!

We DI’s at Amalika have recently moved to the nearby orphanage, “Victory Christian Children’s Home” because one of the project leaders was promoted to headmaster of the school and his family has moved to the college and into our old DI house. One of the teachers here used to live at the orphanage but has now moved to the college into some new rooms built for teachers and lecturers.

We are quite lucky because there is electricity and running water all the time, except in the case of a blackout which if it happens isn’t usually for long. Although since being here, we have had a shortage of water. It’s quite a nice atmosphere and there are always kids around so if you feel like going outside and playing around or going for a walk, you can hang out with the kids or connect with other people around the place. There is also a basketball court which I am very happy about, so I need to try and find somewhere I can buy a basketball. The disadvantage is it now takes longer to get to some of our pre-schools and we have had to try and find out different ways and shortcuts of getting to each school. I have only recently learnt where all my pre-schools are from Amalika, so to change so quickly isn’t ideal, but I’ll manage and it will be fine.

Being here means that lifestyle changes a bit. Aside from the obvious electricity and water, time is a big factor because previously we always had to try and get things done before electricity went off and we would sleep early, but now it’s no longer a race against the clock and we can fit more into our day. It’s a nice change, even though we were ok before and used to planning our time. It also means that now instead of being able to walk 5 minutes from our house to the college to do things or see people, we have to make an afternoon of going to there with a list of things we may need to find out or do to make the trip worthwhile. It means we aren’t able to be as involved in the college as before, but this is how it is. We still go there every Monday at lunchtime for a weekly meeting, and between visiting pre-schools and going to English class on Wednesdays I also go there to eat lunch and say hello to everyone. I will start to go there on Thursdays soon too once I begin my “Health Club.”

It’s crazy that two months in Malawi has already passed. It doesn’t feel like I’ve been gone that long, but of course as the years and months go by, time passes by quicker and quicker. I have this constant feeling that I am running out of time here because six months to do some form of sustainable development really isn’t long at all, so let’s see how the third month goes.

Good news is that Ray is able to stay for a month longer due to some circumstances here at Amalika so I am really happy about that because we have some plans to work together for his last month to do some good things. We want to do a “hand-washing action” with our pre-schools, work on getting something going with the feeding program I mentioned and doing some things in the college with the students. One weekend we are also planning to climb Mulanje Mountain which is more than 3000 metres high and not too far away from where we are now. We might also visit one of the many national parks Malawi has to offer before Ray leaves Malawi. Liwonde National Park is one of the more well known ones and that could be a weekend adventure also. It’s going to be a busy third month, just the way I like it!

First month in Malawi

Where do I start?????? The first month has been filled with a number of experiences thus far and I will try to put things into perspective as best I can. No doubt in true Lucy-style, this is going to be a long one! So make some time or read it in parts and come back to it later.

Firstly I will start off by saying that I have had many “This is Africa” moments, which during my recollections I will constantly refer to as TIA. “This is Africa.” You can apply it to anything, as really anything can happen. And throughout my time on the continent two years ago I heard this phrase many, many times, and regularly used it myself. It is so true and a good way to look at things or situations that may seem frustrating or just really different to what you are normally used to. It reminds you that you’re not at home and you just have to deal with it and smile or laugh, because that’s just the way it is so get used to it! The second time around I am still using it and more likely than not will continue to use it over the remainder of my time here again. I guess you can say, “This is “Malawi,” but in general it seems that things like this are very similar wherever you go in Africa. At least, everywhere I have been so far.




So, let’s see. After travelling from Saturday night to Monday midday from Denmark to Malawi via Frankfurt and Johannesburg, along with my two travel companions, Laura and Assum, we arrived in Lilongwe, Malawi’s capital city. Waiting for us as we went through customs was a guy named Steve, a friendly-looking Malawian man with a huge grin from ear to ear. He was holding up a sign with our names on it, so we introduced ourselves and headed to the car. Steve drove us to the AXA bus station so we could get to Blantyre, Malawi’s biggest city.

The express service to Blantyre is normally timetabled to get you from Lilongwe to Blantyre in around 4 hours, non-stop. This cost 3500 Malawian Kwacha, which is about US$20, £14 or AUS$25. The operative term “normally timetabled” would eventually make me eat my words because low and behold, the first major TIA moment! - A broken down bus about 2 hours into the journey in an area called Ntcheu meant that we found ourselves by the side of the road talking to various local kids and others that were taking the same bus as us.

Much attention was brought to us, firstly being female and secondly quite obviously being foreigners or “Azungu” or “Mzungu,” which in Chichewa (Malawi’s primary native language) means “white people” or “white person.” This is a term that you get very used to hearing if you are a white person in Malawi.

For dinner we ate cooked potatoes from a street vendor stationed under a small shack that seemed like it was part of a market by day. It was a little uncomfortable at first because all the kids followed us and were talking to us while we were eating and we didn’t feel good about eating in front of them. But it turned out to be ok.

On the road again bound for Blantyre after waiting for more than two hours, the rest of the journey was made quite enjoyable as a Malawian man named Thomas sat next to me and we had such a nice, entertaining, silly, funny and interesting conversation about everything under the sun. We arrived sometime after 11 o’clock and stayed in a small lodge overnight.
The next day we walked through Blantyre markets and then we were driven to the Teacher Training College at Chilangoma for our introduction to the program. We met with other Development Instructors (DI’s) that we knew from Denmark who were placed at Chilangoma as well as some of the staff and students.

We stayed overnight and the next day we rode in the back of a ute truck (African style!) to the head office of our organization, DAPP (Development Aid From People to People) to organise paperwork for visas with our passports. We met a German girl there named Maxi who happened to be a senior DI who had already finished her 6 month period, but was able to stay longer. She was working on a renewable/solar energy project which allowed her to continue to work with DAPP. She mentioned that she was going to a football match in Blantyre between Malawi and Botswana and invited us to come. So we had lunch and went to the match. It was pretty crazy being amongst all the football fans, and expectedly we stuck out like a sore thumb being some of the only “Azungu” there. Still, we sat there in the rain and experienced our first African football match. Malawi 1, Botswana 1.

In the evening I arrived at my project location, Amalika Teacher Training College, which is situated in the Thyolo District, South Malawi. It was already dark and the other DI’s there were finishing their dinner by candlelight. I had already been informed about the basics of life at Amalika. Electricity for around six hours a day and running water some of the time, which when it is there is cold. Oh and two people sharing a room.

The DI’s are Ines from Germany, Ray from South Korea, Krisztina from Hungary and Tyka from Venezuela. As I arrived there Tyka was actually packing to leave at 4:00am the next morning. Her six month period had concluded, and Sarah from Germany was on holidays at the time so I didn’t meet her until a week after I arrived.

I moved into a room with Krisztina and gradually unpacked everything. My first few days took some getting used to that’s for sure. Let me give you a picture of the place and living conditions…. There are many bottles of water around the house and also several buckets full in the bathroom. This is our water supply which we fill every time the taps start to run with water. We use it for bucket showering if the water is not running and for drinking once we boil it on the gas stove or with the kettle when there is electricity.

Sometimes we have running water twice a day, sometimes once a day, sometimes most of the day and sometimes not at all. Sometimes it comes at around the same time every day, sometimes not. Just before I arrived they had no running water for three weeks! In this time it was arranged for someone to collect and bring water from the nearby river as well as the bore hole water pump near the entrance to the college every day.  We can drink the water pump water once we boil it but only use the river water to fill the toilet. The main water supply from the taps also depends on the electricity generator that the college runs on. So sometimes we have electricity and water at the same time, but not always. And we have wireless internet which most of the time runs at a snail’s pace, if at all.

We have electricity between 8-11am, 2-3pm and 6-8pm (sometimes 9pm) every day. Sometimes it varies in starting and finishing times and sometimes we don’t get it. Weekends aren’t always guaranteed electricity. It is usually enough to charge your phone, camera battery, computer, etc. When it’s dark and there is no electricity we live by candlelight. A candlelight shower is quite nice. I enjoy having them from time to time.

The only thing is that you really have to plan your time when there is electricity, especially in the evenings. Between 6-8pm you have to think about many things. Dinner, if you want to shower with light and with boiled water, working on your computer. At home I normally eat dinner anywhere between 7 and 8pm, which is what I started to do here, but then when I realised that trying to fit everything in when there is electricity is hard so I eat before 6 or just after 6 usually now. Because lights go out around 8 or so, we usually go to bed quite early. There isn’t so much you feel like doing when you don’t have lights or electricity, even if there are candles.


In the house there are two bedrooms, two girls per room and Ray lives in a separate block where some of the teachers live. We have a small bathroom with a basic shower and toilet. If there is no running water we have to fill the toilet each time we use it before we flush, and we shower in the same place as we wash our clothes and dishes. We do have an actual shower head but only ever use the tap because the shower is right next to the toilet and if we used the proper shower tap then everything would get wet. So we don’t ever have a proper shower, only using buckets and cups, and sticking your head under the tap if there is running water. We can boil the water if we want a hot shower, but I don’t always do that. It depends on how I feel and if it’s cold inside or not or if I’ve come from a really hot day outside. I have been trying to get the school maintenance guy to get materials and install a shower rail and curtain for us so we can have proper showers. But due to “African time” we are still waiting.

The living room is also the kitchen. We have a dining table and another table to put all our plates, glasses, cutlery, and pots on as well as a portable gas stove. When I arrived the DI’s were storing their food in a cardboard box on the floor. I very quickly took note of this, thinking that it is not hygienic, especially because they told me there was a rat some weeks before I got there, but luckily they got rid of it. I asked Moses, our DI responsible leader at the college if it was possible to get some shelves made for our house so we could store all the food on it and keep it all off the floor. My first act of pushing for development! (even if it was only in our house, but still!)

My next project is to get a tap and sink installed in the kitchen so that we can at least separate washing our dishes from out of the bathroom! We are still waiting for this one because TIA, and we live on African time! (African time is usually at least two hours after you are supposed to be somewhere or meet someone. Or if you want to try and get something done then you could be waiting anywhere from days to one week to months on end. So everything takes about ten times longer than usual! Something that could take you three hours to do at home might take one or two weeks here! This is something that makes me question development work in Africa, but that’s another story for later in this blog!

In my room there are two single beds for Krisztina and I and we both have mosquito nets above them. There is some storage space for our clothes and other things plus a table, but not a huge amount of space. I keep some items of clothing in my big backpack and many of my extra supplies of toiletry products are in my small wheely suitcase. None of it is a problem though. It took about a week to get used to everything and to get into a routine, so now it’s a piece of cake!

The college is situated between mountains and it’s quite nice around the area. It’s pretty rural and the nearest town, which isn’t so much a town but has some markets where you can get basic fruit and vegetables among some other things, plus a store and a gas station, is around 1 hour and 30-45 minutes by foot. There is a school car that we can take sometimes depending on the program and what needs to be done each day for the college. Usually it’s more reliable to organise your own transport and walk than rely on the school car because it is never on time when you organise to get a ride with it.

The main form of transport is the minibuses. They operate back and forth between certain areas and cram as many people in as possible. We use them to go into town and also the market areas between the main road and town. To many foreigners it would seem a little dodgy at first because I don’t think you’ll find a single one that is actually roadworthy and would pass an MOT test! But TIA. Some aren’t too bad on the inside, but then some are also so run down that the seats are eroding. Once you start using them regularly you see that it’s not so bad, and you get to meet some very friendly locals and some characters too! I got used to using them in South Africa two years ago so it was no problem for me to get used to using them here as well. It’s definitely an experience and a good way to get immersed in their culture and also to see the local area. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

By far the best form of transport I have experienced is a Malawian bicycle taxi at sunset! We can take these from the main road until our project location and it takes about half an hour to 40 minutes. The first time I took one was amazing! The sun was setting across the horizon and the sky turned an orange, yellow and red colour. It was absolutely beautiful and I enjoyed every minute of it! This form of transport is not exactly luxurious as you are just sitting on the back of an old bike that could fall apart at any minute, but gliding by between the mountains, through the villages and watching the people and scenery go by is wonderful! The roads can be bumpy at times and sometimes there are small hills, and it’s a wonder how these drivers manage to stay upright and get to where they need to go over long distances!

We are lucky that even though it can get quite hot during the days, at night when it is normally a mosquito’s paradise in many other parts of Malawi, it is quite cool and we don’t really get mosquitoes here. Well not so far anyway. So Malaria is not a big problem here, but we still take our Malaria prophylaxis to be on the safe side because it is necessary for when we are outside of Amalika. Right now it is the dry season so we are enjoying a nice hot summer. But the rainy season starts towards the end of November so we may have to watch out for mosquitoes then, as there will be a lot of stagnant water around.

There is a cook at the college and the students have their meals cooked for them, breakfast, lunch and dinner, Monday to Friday. Then on the weekends they cook for themselves. We are also welcome to eat the food in the school if we like.

Breakfast is always porridge made out of rice which is quite salty in taste but you can add sugar or honey to make it better. Lunch and dinner consists of Malawi’s staple food which is called nsima (the ‘n’ is silent). It is made of maize (sweet corn) flour and looks like a big batch of dough. It’s quite plain in taste but I like it and normally add some chilli sauce to enhance the flavour. Nsima is usually served with kidney beans, everyday! Sometimes there is egg and a green spinach-like vegetable which I can’t remember the name of and sometimes there is salad. Twice a week there is rice instead of nsima and also chicken.

Sinanga is the name of our cook and he is such a sweet old man. If he likes you he gives you extra food or food that maybe not everyone gets. I always make sure I go and say hello to him and have a chat because he is always so nice and looks after us. Sometimes we take him some fruit or other things because he’s always so good to us. And sometimes he gives me things like tomatoes, onions and peanut butter to take to our house. He’s so cute.

We are given an allowance of 26,000 Kwacha a month which is around US$150, £100 or AUS$185, so we can spend that money on food to cook for ourselves if we don’t want to eat in the college and it can also cover transport and whatever we want really. We also get 1600 Kwacha per week of airtime (phone credit). That is around US$9, £6 or AUS$11. All the staff at the college receives airtime because we are constantly in contact with the teachers and pre-school supervisors. The allowance and airtime is more than enough to live comfortably, at least for me anyway. I am trying to save at least half of my allowance per month which I have managed to do for both of my allowances so far.

Just to give you an indication of the job and salary situation here, a pre-school supervisor is paid between 3500-7500 Kwacha per month (US$20-$40). That is only a fraction of what we DI’s receive, and ours is just an allowance and we are only here for a limited amount of time. This is what these people earn for a living as their main job, and not only to support themselves but also their families.

There is never any reason for me to complain that I don’t have enough money, because whatever I do have, it is more than most local people here, and I know that I can go back to my normal life after this and earn more. I know that I can go back to having a comfortable life knowing there will be food, there will be water, there will be a roof over my head and there will be a job. I have the luxury of choice and sometimes I wonder why I have been given the fortunate life. There is always a way and for me it has never been about money, but for these people it has to be. A large percentage of people in Malawi live on less than US$1 a day. The average wage (or maybe it’s the minimum wage) is 135 Kwachas per day (US 80 cents). It’s so sad.

From the first moment I decided that I would try to get to know as many of the students in the college as possible, as well as all the staff. So for the first two weeks, at lunch times I went and sat with the students (and sometimes the teachers) in the school and ate nsima with them every day. All the other DI’s go to the school kitchen, take the food and go back to our house to eat, or they just cook in our house and stay there. But I am here to get to know the local people so I go and sit with them. In the evenings for dinner I cook at our house and sit with the DI’s though. I think it’s good to keep a balance so I can spend time with them as well as the students and teachers.

After eating nsima everyday for two weeks I decided I couldn’t do it anymore because it is quite heavy and filling and I felt like I was putting on a bit of weight. It actually has no nutritional value and is not good to eat so often, but being the staple food of the local people, they eat it every day or they don’t feel complete. I have heard some of them say, a meal without nsima means they went hungry that day! So now I’ve decided I will just eat nsima once a week, twice at the most on some weeks for convenience or to save money on food.

There is not so much variety with food here. You can get the standard things you need from the local markets and supermarkets, but some things that are not locally produced are quite expensive. There are many products from South Africa in the supermarkets, and fruit and vegetables from the markets or local villages are very cheap. You can get 4 bananas for 10 Kwacha which is about US 5 cents, or a bunch of zucchini (courgettes) which is about 5 small-medium sized for 50 Kwacha (US 50 cents). They also have “Azungu” prices at some markets so you just need to be aware or they can rip you off. But even if you pay too much for a bunch of bananas it’s still incredibly cheap as instead of paying 20 Kwacha maybe you pay 50-80 Kwacha. Not a big difference and still only about US 50 cents. They need it more than we do is what I tend to think about.

The restaurants in town are all pretty similar. You can get chicken, chips and salad or curry and rice for anywhere between 350 Kwacha to 600 Kwacha. There are some Indian restaurants in town due to the population of Indian-descendents or emigrants and a Chinese restaurant or two here and there.

My favourite place to eat where I have been to a few times is a restaurant called Indaba. It is the best in the area and serves really nice food for cheap prices. Chicken, fish and vegetable dishes including curries or local-style food is for around 500-900 Kwacha (US$3-$5). This is also where I fell in a ditch one night after leaving the restaurant to go home. It was dark and I could hardly see a thing, forgetting that there was a ditch by the side of the road. Stupid me ended up stacking it and coming out with two grazed knees and a sore shoulder. I’m lucky that my fall wasn’t more serious and also that it wasn’t rainy season or else I would’ve fallen in a pool of dirty water!

Because there is not so much chance at getting enough nutrition by just eating in the school, I go shopping every week or two to get some extra things that help me to stay healthy. Fruit (apples, oranges, bananas and sometimes tomatoes), vegetables (eggplant, zucchini, onions, mushrooms, green beans and sometimes peppers), eggs, milk, juice, water, honey, tea, nuts, tuna, Ryvita crackers and oats for porridge as I much prefer this than the rice porridge served in the school. I buy chocolate as a nice treat every now and then too.

So I pretty much eat the same things all the time, but it’s fine. Because we don’t have everything we need all around us, when I do go out to eat at a restaurant it becomes really exciting and special! Sometimes we all cook together and sometimes we cook our own things. Wednesday night has recently become pancake night in our house and Ray has been cooking some Korean dishes lately too so it’s been lovely!

As usual I have talked far too long about food! So what’s next?! Ok so I came to the project at quite an irregular time. My main work is with the pre-school program that is affiliated with the college and involves visiting local pre-schools, helping to improve them and work towards development. But when I arrived at Amalika the pre-schools had just gone on holidays for a month, two DI’s were away, one just finished her project period and left, and the college was getting ready for the graduation ceremony of students that started in the college in 2008, so teachers and students were all busy preparing for this and there was no real direction of my work from the start.

Amalika is the second Teacher Training College that is almost 3 years old but was inaugurated by Malawi’s President, Bingu wa Mutharika back in August of 2009. The 2008 team were the first ever team that started their education in the college and the so-called pioneers of Amalika. The college also has students from 2009 and 2010, who are obviously all at different stages of the 2 ½ year Teacher Training course (for more information about the structure of the course, see one of my earlier blogs below).

There are 64 students in each year – 32 guys, 32 girls. All the students and teachers speak English and all classes, meetings, assemblies, etc, are all held in English as well. I think this is partly because the school follows the British system, Malawi is an ex-British colony and English is one of the national languages, and a Danish organisation founded the college, so naturally the common language for everyone is English. But despite this I am making an effort to learn and use as much Chichewa as I can because I believe it is important, respectful and necessary to make an effort to learn some of the native language of a country, especially if you stay for a significant amount of time. Although having said that, I will admit that I didn’t make much of an effort in Denmark with the language because I wasn’t motivated to do so in such an unpleasant environment.

But here in Malawi, life is completely different and I get the chance to practice the language every day. For example, we all greet one another by saying “Mwadzuka Bwanji” (How are you? For the morning), “Muli Bwanji” (How are you? For any time of day), or “Mwaswela Bwanji” (How are you? For the afternoon/evening, or when you see someone again in the same day). I have a notebook that I take with me everywhere and have been writing many things down. Either I hear something new or I ask people how to say certain things. Making friends with the students and teachers has helped me a lot with this and in my first two weeks in Malawi I knew how to speak more Chichewa than 6 months of Danish in Denmark!

The dress code is quite simply to dress modestly. We were told before coming to Malawi that, as females we should cover our shoulders and knees when walking around the college and through the villages. But actually when you walk around the communities you see many Malawian women wearing summer tops that don’t cover their shoulders, so now it seems to be ok. I think we just need to be considerate and mindful about the situation we are in. When working and being a representative of DAPP then we need to respect the dress code. It’s no problem and even though it can be quite hot, you get used to it. In the city it’s a different story and you can be a bit more free with this.

I had the privilege of a very warm welcome to Amalika with a song from the 2008 choir after an introduction of myself in Chichewa. I spoke in Chichewa in front of about 200 people and luckily I managed it quite well I was told. I said good afternoon, my name, where I am from, that I am happy to be here and I thanked everyone for their attention. I got a huge cheer and applause from the students and staff as I don’t think they expected me to do it and only to speak in English because I had only been there two weeks. It was so nice and I love the spirit of the people. It makes for a great atmosphere.

Because I have been eating lunch in the college and frequently walking around the campus, it has been a good chance to settle into the life and get to know the people. I don’t think I have ever been anywhere that has so many nice people in the same place. But actually, the people in general everywhere you go are so friendly. Malawi is known as the “warm heart of Africa” and Malawians are renowned to be some of the friendliest people on the African continent. It is definitely easy to see why. Wherever you walk, people always say hello and how are you and are always smiling. Sometimes they even stop what they are doing or where they are going, just to have a chat with you. They are also always willing to help you if you need directions or some information about something. Even if they don’t speak English they will help you to get where you need to go if you are lost, whether it’s taking you there themselves, asking a fellow Malawian to guide you or pointing you in the right direction. It’s very nice.

In terms of holidays, we get one week to go wherever we want within Malawi (sometimes two if you can get away with it). Depending on how ‘free’ you are in your project you can probably get away with more travel time as many DI’s do, depending on their intentions to come over here and how motivated they are to work. We also get one week of investigation where we can choose to research/investigate something in relation to the project or relevant to development. For example, I am thinking about visiting primary schools, high schools and universities to investigate the education system and compare the standards in the city and rural areas.

There are many interesting names of some of the people here. Blessings, Gift, Innocent, Memory, Patience, Happy, etc. And these aren’t just one-off names. There have been several Blessings’, Gifts and Innocents! But I think it’s because some of their names in Chichewa have these words as the translation in English. Still, it’s interesting!

In preparation for graduation, I was asked to work with 4 students from the 2010 team, and we had to make 2 pre-school displays showing basics of the pre-schools and the activities involved.

The graduation of the 2008 team consisted of a graduation party with speeches, songs and dancing until the early hours of the morning to the music of a DJ playing various styles. Singing and dancing are a huge part of Malawian culture (and African culture in general). So naturally, all assemblies, events and some meetings usually consist of the Malawian National Anthem as well as a sing-a-long with all the students of various other songs in Chichewa and/or English. It’s always such a great atmosphere and the presence of the African spirit is amazing! Even little kids from nearby villages came for the dance afterwards and it was so lovely to see everyone enjoying themselves.

Something that I noticed during the speeches and performances, especially since I was filming and taking pictures was that people don’t know how to behave when someone is standing up in front of them speaking, singing or presenting something. Throughout the whole evening there were people getting up noisily with the chairs, walking right across and in front of the person at the microphone, speaking to other people next to or near them, walking in and out of the hall. If you watch my videos or see some of the photos you can see a lot of this. But this is how everyone carries on so it’s normal and no one minds. Well except for the headmaster who is Danish. She was constantly telling people to be quiet, to sit down or to wait until someone finished speaking before they went anywhere. There were also two students who were ‘MC’ing” the event and several times between speeches and performances they would start talking on the microphone when the hall was really noisy, and again  the headmaster told them they should wait until everyone is quiet before they start to speak so that people can hear them. These little things are so obvious to us, but not here.

The graduation ceremony itself took place on another day. It was a big day for the 2008 students from Amalika and Chilangoma. Almost 1000 people, possibly more, attended the event and the guest of honour was the Minister for Education, Peter Mutharika. He is actually the brother of the President. It was such a nice day with many speeches, dance performances and a number of songs from the Amalika choir.

So now the 2008 students are back home for holidays and waiting to be posted to teach in primary schools around Malawi. It is a shame because the best friends that I made in my first few weeks out of all the students were in the 2008 team. I am still in contact with some of them and they all live in different areas around the country, so hopefully I will be able to pay some visits to catch up with them again, see some of their homes and to do some travelling around the country.

I am teaching English in a nearby community every Wednesday afternoon for 1 ½ hours (but usually about 1 hour). I have a class of sometimes 2, sometimes 3, 4, 5 or 6 male adults, between the ages of around 30-something to 80-something. They are all at different levels so it can be a challenge to try and accommodate for each student. Luckily, one of the students is at quite a good level of English, so he helps me by translating what I’m saying to Chichewa if some of the others don’t understand. They are all such a pleasure to teach. The 80-something year old is so cute. His eyesight and hearing is not very good so he has to come up to the blackboard and read what I write and I normally have to speak a bit louder to him. The thought of being a teacher has been something that always crossed my mind, but I never thought that I would be any good at it or if it would be something that I enjoy. But it is working out really well. I really enjoy going there every week and I always get nice feedback from the students to say that they enjoy coming to class. And actually the class has become slightly bigger since I took over, so that’s a nice thing.

An added bonus to accompany my English class each week is that I get to walk through some villages on the way to the school and there are plenty of cute-as-a-button kids along the way. From the moment you start to approach the villages you hear “Azungu” or they remember your name from last time and they call “Lucy” or names of other DI’s, even ones that haven’t been around for some time! And sometimes even if they know your name, they say, “What is your name?” Then you tell them and ask what their name is but they don’t know how to answer. It’s so cute. They all know that we have cameras so they always say “jambola” or “jambolani” which I think means camera, or taking pictures, and when you take pictures of them they absolutely love it! They think it’s the greatest thing ever when you show them pictures of themselves on screen! Sometimes when I arrive at English class the kids come and greet me, singing songs and dancing. It really makes my day!

I have also had other experiences outside Amalika thanks to the fact that I have become good friends with Maxi, the German girl who I mentioned earlier. Alongside her renewable energy project, Maxi started up a mushroom farm business with a local guy she met, who for a long time had been growing mushroom spores (seeds) out of glass bottles in his house. Maxi was so impressed by the work he was doing from having next to nothing that she had to support him and help him grow his business. So out of her own pocket they have a limited company called ‘The Oyster’ and I think it’s going to do really well because there is a gap in the market here. No one sells mushrooms at any of the markets and you can only buy them in the big supermarkets which are usually imported from somewhere like South Africa so it means they are expensive. Maxi has also now finished her work with DAPP and rents a house next to the mushroom farm that she does all her work out of. I am a regular visitor there when I am not in Amalika and it has become like my second home here!

Maxi has been in Malawi for just over one year now and has managed to network quite well, so I have met many new people through her, both local and foreign, and have been lucky to see a lot of the local area and do some different activities. We went on a small game drive (safari), a music festival with local musicians, had many nice meals at the mushroom farm with various visitors, a night out in Blantyre, visiting her friend’s coffee house for the best cup of coffee I have had in a long time, and where I was also able to buy some great locally produced honey, dried fruit, tea and pepper.

Another nice experience I had was visiting a nearby orphanage to Amalika. The name of it is “Victory Christian Children’s Home” and it was started by American missionaries. Ines, by chance, met 3 older Americans who offered her a ride one day and she found out that they were the founders of the orphanage right near us so they encouraged her to visit. So we went together and met an American lady named Lisa who had only been in Malawi for a month and who was going to take over the running of the orphanage from the older founders of the place. She was so friendly and invited us in for a drink, where each of us talked about our lives and experiences and why we were in Malawi. I have met a few American missionaries who all say basically the same thing. “I had a calling from God and he brought me to Malawi.” This is what the lady also said. I’m pretty sure there are many American missionaries in Malawi as well as other parts of Africa and I have a feeling that the situations are all very similar! Each to their own!

We were also shown around the orphanage and had the chance to meet some of the children from there. It was quite a nice experience to see everything. But I would also like to visit a locally owned and run orphanage because obviously a big difference will be the lack of funds so I’m sure it would look completely different to the orphanages owned and run by foreigners with money.

Something that many Americans and Malawians (and I guess many Africans in general) have in common are their religious beliefs. Most Malawians are Christian and go to church every Sunday. A lot of the time when you hear people singing or you listen to Malawian music there is a lot about God and Jesus and religion.

Probably some of the most asked questions since I have been in Malawi are, “What religion are you?” “Which church do you go to?” “What denomination are you?” It’s always funny to explain that where I come from, although there are people of many different religions and everyone is free to believe in whatever they choose, there are also people that are not religious and do not go to church. You always get a curious or funny look or reaction from the people here when you say you are not religious because I think that if they have never been outside their own country that they just expect everyone to be the same. Some of them ask you why, or if you are interested in religion. My standard answer now is, “The same way that you grew up following religion and going to church, I grew up not being religious and not going to church.” That seems to get them to understand a bit better. I ask some people if it is strange or weird for them to hear, and they usually say no, but even if it was they wouldn’t say, because they always just say everything is good, ok or nice and there is no real opinion. I am going to organise to visit a church with one of the students one Sunday to see what it is like, because from what I have heard it is completely different to what a typical church is like back home. I have seen and walked past churches while there have been services going on and there is always plenty of singing and dancing.

In Europe, the States and most other developed nations I’ve travelled, it’s all about taking photos with famous landmarks, museums, buildings, etc. I never even think about taking pictures of the people. But in Africa I find that all I want to take pictures of are the people, especially from the villages! I guess it’s because they look so different to me and maybe there is an unconscious and incredible fascination there and these people that have next to nothing are some of the happiest, friendliest and great spirited people I have ever seen. They go on about their daily life, walking barefoot, carrying heavy loads, walking long distances despite the heat or the less than ideal conditions. Nothing is too hard and complaining or negativity does not seem to exist in their vocabulary. And don’t ask me how they manage to carry buckets full of water or large piles of wood on their heads. The women are especially amazing at this and so strong. I have seen that the kids learn to do this kind of thing at a young age with smaller and lighter items, so that by the time they are grown up they are used to carrying heavy loads and it is not very difficult for them.

So if I’m being honest, I feel like my first month went by without me doing much work in relation to the project. What seems to be normal across all projects is that it takes around a month to settle in, learn about how everything works and to get into a routine. Of course this varies for everyone. There are some things here and there that I mentioned above, but through many of the days I had a lot of free time. There is never anyone chasing you or telling you should do something or be somewhere. It’s quite free which can be nice I guess. But this can also work in reverse because if a DI has no initiative or is not motivated to do anything then they can easily get away with it. Basically, you can do as much work as you want to do. I came here for a reason and that is to help people and do some development, no matter how minor or significant. But it seems that some DI’s come here for a holiday or don’t have the attitude to go out and find something to do, but instead just wait or do the bare minimum. Maybe I could’ve tried to do more and find other things apart from helping with graduation since pre-schools were on holidays, but somehow the first month just flew by so quickly, and here I am recalling it in words.

I think I always have the feeling that I could have done more, so since the graduation-fever finished and teachers were no longer too busy and pre-occupied with this I have been trying to get involved as much as possible, talking to the teachers and trying to find out where I can fit in to give courses and be involved in the college. Even though the main part of the work is with the pre-schools, I am interested in being with the students in the college too. So I started getting invited to teacher council meetings which none of the other DI’s go to. This is because I have been the only one showing an interest in doing extra work in the college rather than just with pre-schools. I am going to give a course about Australia and am also planning on making a weekly “Health Club” to address such issues as nutrition, hygiene and sanitation, fitness, water, diseases, etc. Health is a top priority for me to address while I am here and I plan to address the same issue (especially nutrition) in the pre-schools.

Earlier I mentioned that there are some things that make me question development work in Africa. Even though there are many small things that we can do to create development, the main goal is to create sustainable development, meaning that these improvements we make can be carried on and kept in place for a long time. But what I have realised after only some weeks working here, the first thing that needs to happen for sustainability and for African countries to move forward is to change the way many people think. But there is a problem here. People’s mindsets and the way they have grown up to think and act is in some way a part of their culture. And what we’re not here to do is change their culture, because we can never do that and it is not something we want to do. Culture is what makes each country’s people unique.  So how do we do this? The simple fact is that hours and days and months and years of time are being wasted because as I’ve heard and seen so many times before, there is “no hurry in Africa.”

If I can give a small example of this – The other day we had to do food shopping for a pre-school teacher’s workshop we were holding in the college. Now, we had arranged with the transport co-ordinator that we needed to leave at 8:00am and that it would take 2-3 hours. He told us, no problem, our program will be the main program for the morning and anyone else that needs the car can work around us. So what happens the next day when we wait for the car to pick us up at 8 o’clock? Of course it is not there but instead the driver went to a nearby town to buy chickens for lunch in the college that day. No one told us this when we originally asked for the car, and when we called the driver to find out where he was and how long he would be he just said he will be back soon.

Two hours later he still wasn’t back so we spoke to the transport co-ordinator who said he was trying to call the driver but he couldn’t get in contact with him. But he wasn’t really concerned that we had been waiting for so long. We ended up waiting more than 2 ½ hours for the car to come back. And even when it came back, we waited a further 20 minutes or so before we could leave because the driver was stuffing around. This kind of thing happens here all the time and we are used to it, but the major problem is that no one seems to care. Not the driver, not the transport co-ordinator, not the teachers, no one. TIA.

We are always told it’s no problem, just be ready and the car will take you, but then when we show up to get the car it is not there. There is no sense of urgency and the people don’t care that we have an important job to do as well as other things we need to finish. This is an example of what I mean by the way people think. No one is concerned about wasting anyone else’s time or affecting other people by their actions.

The same thing happens all the time in many other situations too. We try to do development work but it continues to be delayed, postponed or cancelled. And to me, in relation to creating sustainable development in African countries, all this is where we can get stuck because in order to do our jobs properly, we normally have to rely on someone else to do their job properly as well. And that in itself is a trap which doesn’t seem like it will improve anytime soon. It doesn’t mean that we can’t help and do some form of development here, but I think it’s going to take a lot more than showing these people how to use a computer, teaching them about the world outside of their country, how to speak our language, spending money on resources and materials or sending them our second hand clothes. Don’t get me wrong – these people are amazing and friendly and happy but it’s hard to see the way forward sometimes. TIA.

Sure, we can show them more efficient ways to do things and make them understand why this is so, and we can open their eyes to new and interesting things, but as long as many African people think the way they do, it is a constant uphill battle and I’m not sure when we will reach the top. Things are travelling at a snail’s pace, almost as if they are going backwards. Many Asian countries are developing as quickly as African countries are struggling to develop.

From speaking to other people I hear the same concerns and frustrations about these issues and there are many books that have been recommended to me that criticise development and foreign aid in Africa which I am yet to read, but am keen to get my hands on while I am here, to perhaps put things into perspective a little more.

Despite all this I still feel a great sense of contentment and happiness to be here because there are still many things I can do to help on a smaller scale. I’d rather be here doing something productive than not be here thinking about the problems of the third world without being able to do anything. Home is so far away and at the moment I kind of like it that way. Talking with, laughing with, connecting with, learning about and relating to the people here and doing what I do is satisfying.

At the times when there is no electricity, no running water, no internet, no light, somehow, it’s still ok. There is much more to life than all of this. Instead of complaining about not having these basic things I get excited when we do have them! Sometimes it’s like Christmas is here! Stepping back into the developing world, again I have become used to appreciating the little things we often take for granted in our regular lives outside of here. I’ve had two real showers with warm water since being here. After regularly having a bucket wash it’s a nice change and feels amazing. Ah, the simple things…. TIA….

I have now started visiting the pre-schools, a primary school and co-running a youth club, and my work here is starting to get very busy (just the way I like it!) But more detail about all this will come in my next blog… Stay tuned!! (And congrats for getting to the end of my 8000km blog!)