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!)
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