Four corners

I’ve been in Malawi for almost 8 months now and I’ve found myself to be moving a lot through the country. Each of the places that I unpacked my bags to call home for a while had brought me a different view of Malawi, of its people, of its culture. Here is a summary and images. Enjoy!
Karonga
9 March – 14 April 2011
That was my first home when I arrived in Malawi. I stayed there for a month. I had my own small mud brick hut that I shared with a hen and her 11 chicks, scorpions, crickets and frogs. I was sleeping on a woven mat on the floor. There was no furniture in my hut or the family’s. It was a few minutes walking from Lake Malawi. Village house, no electricity, a communal tap, a pit latrine that collapsed due to the rain and a bathroom with only three walls and no roof. The cooking was done over fire in a side room or outside. We would go bathe and wash our clothes in the lake, but no one on this section of the lake really goes as tourist, all the women were bathing with clothes on, so I had to do the same. The family I was living with was great, only women!! The mom, was a 42 yrs old lady who was running an osipa business (small fishes, really bitter, but Malawians love them). She would buy them directly from the fishermen, dry them and sell them at the market. She was not rich, but she was doing ok. She was divorced. Her youngest daughter Pacharo (15 yrs old) and her granddaughter Gertrude (4yrs old) were living there full time. Pacharo and all the other older kids of the family were educated and all went to school. The mom felt it was important and was helping as much as she could. Little Gertrude’s mom, Christabel (25 yrs old), the oldest daughter, was living and studying management and accounting in Mzuzu, 4-5 hours south by minibus. She came and stayed with us for almost three weeks. She is amazing, I really enjoyed her company and friendship. I also became friend with Abell, a 28 yrs old pastor. The three of us had good discussions about religion, politics, economy, relationships. We were running a few kilometers every other morning. The mom was only speaking Tumbuka, no English. I had my first experience of dancing with the ladies on Saturdays and cooking nsima. It was really hot in Karonga at that time, so most women would eat dinner and hang out at night top less. The beauty of living with only women. It was hot and raining a lot. Almost every morning on my way to he field, I’d see another part of the District that had been flooded the previous night. And one night, it was our turn. Our village, my house, the main market and the road were under a meter of water. It was very troubling and very sad to observe. The flood corresponded to the end of my field research there, so I left, and never went back since. It’s too far north.
Salima town
19 April – 14 October  2011
I lived there full time for the first three months and I was there half the time for the last three months. I shared a mud hut with Maggie, a 35 yrs old woman and her 20 yrs old nephew Dew (he left in July to try to get scholarship to go to University, so he went and did the exams). He spoke English, she didnt’t. She was speaking Chechewa, the main language in Malawi. Maggie had no husband and no kids, she always took care of other people and for some reason never had a family of her own. Most women in there 30s with no husband and kids are being judge, but for an inexplicable reason to me (I never felt it was appropriate to asked), she is a well respected “aunty” around the village. For the first month, I share Maggies room, sleeping on my newly bought foam mattress on the floor. Then Lisa, my friend and coworker, moved in with us and we got the storage room and the neighbour gave us a bed frame for our bed. So I got my room, but I share my bed with Lisa, who was doing her field research in Salima. Haha! The house had furniture, real windows, a wood door and a lock. But still no electricity. There was a shallow well in the backyard for non-drinkable water and a borehole a kilometer away for potable water. A nice pit latrine and bathroom were in the backyard. We’d cook outside over charcoal using a small homemade metal mbaola. We’d do the laundry and dishes outside on the porch. Maggie is also a business woman. She buys charcoal and firewood, sells it during the rainy season, she buys bulk soap and sells it in small bags in the neighbouring villages. She is not doing a lot of money, but she can survive ok. She has a small crop land for maize only. She also built a house next to hers and rents it for MWK1000/month (less than 10 dollars). She is doing business with another woman and they have a loan from a local bank.
Senga Bay
14 July – 14 October 2011
The house in Senga Bay is a beach cottage that an older British couple living in Lilongwe (1.5 hr away) have been renting for the last many years. They were not using it a lot at that period of the year as it was cool. Plus they are working a lot and petrol is hard to find to do the drive. They let me use it, they were friends of friends. I shared the bills with them. I had my own place, a gas oven, a fridge, a flush toilet and a hot shower. Plus it was right on the beach. The running water was provided via a borehole on the property and piped to to the cottage, I never once had a water shortage. Electricity was unfortunately provided by the government, so I was subject to the random and frequent power outage. Beautiful old rustic cottage with rotting windows and infested by ants, but still quite charming. My roommates were two giant monitoring lizard living in the ceiling. I saw a few snakes too, but they would not stay. Otherwise, I was alone there. The house is really old and far from other people with minimal security (a night guard for the entire property). The risks were not high, but I was always scared of guys (from the fishermen village right next to the house) to break in at night, or being bitten by a snake, or getting sick and being alone. Hopefully, nothing happened while I was there, it was in fact pretty quiet and almost boring. Most of my stay there was during the colder season, so it would be too cold to swim in the lake, although, I enjoyed the cool lake during the last month of my stay. I was living there part time only, because, first, it was quite a commute to and from work (25 km in the back of an old, overcrowded pickup) and second, I was lonely, although I found a friend there a few weeks before I left and she would give me rides in the morning, so I stayed in Senga Bay more often then. There were other cottages on the property, all rented by older British couple living in Lilongwe. I saw some of them once or twice during weekends. There were a few men working as staff on the property everyday. Some were cleaning the other cottages, some were maintaining the garden and beach and preparing hot water at night for me to use. It was interesting to have staff around if I needed something, they were always helpful. Although, I never had to pay them or take care of all this crap, the landlord and other tenants were responsible for it since my cottage is the only one that the tenants don’t have staff.
Liwonde
14 October 2011– (projection March 2012)
As I mentioned in my last post (more details and pictures (can’t post more than a few pictures at the time as internet is not good enough, so to see pictures of this new place you’ll have to check the previous post if you haven’t already…haha, sorry), I moved to a small staff compound in Liwonde. I have a small two room place, one main room and one storage room. I share a cold shower (perfect these days as it is really really hot) and flush toilet with a family. We get our electricity through the government and our water through the Water Board, so we get a lot of shortages, especially at this time of the year, and best of all, they are normally combined as they pumps and turbines for water require electricity!! The family lives well compare to the other ones I’ve lived with. They have electricity and running water, they have furniture and a hot plate. Although they generally cook using fire. They built a nice food fire stove, never saw that anywhere before. It’s simple, but they are more organized. They are not rich at all though. I am not sure that all the kids go to school, for now I know the older boy does for sure, but the older girl (19 yrs old who just got a baby) doesn’t. Kids learn English at school and none of those kids know English well if at all. But I think they at least attend primary school, I saw some of them wearing uniforms. The husband takes care of the main house on the property (I live in a staff house!!), he cooks and clean and guard during the day. There is another guard at night. I haven’t seen the owner of the main house yet. They could be foreigner as the news paper that are in my bathroom are in English and I saw American movies in the theater pages and white people in the ads and article, it’s the Daily Times, but it’s from September 2007!! haha
I like this last set up better than all the others. It is not big, but it is mine. I am not alone but I can do my own things at my own pace. I don’t have much to cook with, but I can cook what I like and share if I want to. I enjoy the shower and the toilet, although I need to always make sure I have a few buckets filled with water in my room as you can’t rely on running shower. I enjoy having electricity. I bought a fan and a hot plate. Although the hotplate is South African (Malawi uses British plugs) and I seem to have problems with my power outlet. I saw smoke this morning coming out of the plug as I was making breakfast using the hotplate. I think the voltage is different and it needs more power or something. It seems to melt the socket a bit more every time, even when I use an adaptor with a fuse. I’ll figure it out, but if anyone knows about that, please let me know before I ruin my hotplate and kettle with are SA. I bought a new socket and I’ll change it when there is a power outage. Now that I want it to happen, the electricity is good! Of course.
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Anyways, in all four corners of my life in Malawi, I’ve learnt a lot from the different people who lived with or around me. I’m observing them, taking part of their tasks and daily life, and they are observing me too, sometimes laughing, sometimes wondering and other times learning. It’s amazing to be part of their lives, if only for a few months! It’s nice, it’s challenging but one important similarities, all those people I lived or live with, are all fabulous in their own way, they are strong, creative, smiling, helpful and welcoming. Ahhhh Malawi, you are the warm heart of Africa. You are certainly not recognized for your food, nor your landscape and scenery, but for your people!

Cheers, Ge

Liwonde here I am

I woke up this morning wanting to be nowhere else. I woke up completely drenched wet after a bad night of sleep (well into the hot season now) and a few days of being sick in bed, but somehow, I felt extremely happy to be here, to be in my new home in Liwonde and I was quite excited to up on my bike and go to work. Maybe it was the fever I had that was making me delusional, but I think I’ve reached a point of well being within this complex environment.

A lot happened over the last two weeks. I completed my placement in Salima at the District Water Development Office. I am now in Liwonde, about 250 km south of Lilongwe and 150 km north of Blantyre on the Shire River. It is nice, but super hot at this time of the year. The Shire River is full of crocodiles and hippos, and also delicious fishes. Having to move sucks anywhere in the world. It only gets better when you don’t have a vehicle to travel the 200 km between the two locations and even then, there is no petrol or diesel available, unless you are really lucky. Salima had had no diesel for four weeks, and the one time they had a delivery, the cues were two days long. People had to sleep in their car the night before to get in line to get something the following day. And most didn’t as the army, the hospital and the police go first and fill their jerry cans and barrels. It has been stressful to not be able to plan, but wing it and hope for the best. I don’t have many things, but enough to not be willing to move by minibus (I had to, but only for part of my things). I have a mattress, cooking stuff and containers, bags, a bike. But I would have lost a lot of money letting these things behind or even selling them. Until the last minute I was hoping for a nice Samaritan, with diesel and a pickup to give me a ride. And it happened. The consultant I’ll be working with in Liwonde had to bring a report and meet with the government in Lilongwe and somehow his driver magically managed to find enough diesel to come pick me in Salima (a 50 km detour). We couldn’t fit everything, but almost, the rest I took on the minibus the next time. And they didn’t charge me anything. AMAZING!!

I found a nice little place to live. It’s about 2 km from my office, and 1.5 to the market. It has electricity, a shared flush toilet and cold shower. I share a staff house with a family. Staff houses are small compounds at the back of a big house where the guard or gardener or house lady would live. Perfect for me. I have my own space (one big

room and a smaller one for storage) and I can do what I want. The family I share the compound with is lovely. They are 40 years old, have 5 kids, 4 live there, and the oldest just got a cute baby. I think the baby’s dad went away or something. The woman speaks a broken English, and I speak a broken Chichewa, but we can communicate. She took care of me when I got sick at the beginning of the week. We all cook together outside in the fenced veranda. I can do my own things if I want to, but we often share. At night, they make samosa and mdazi to sell around town the next day as a way to make money. But let me tell you that now that I have seen the process behind the confection of those delicious snacks, I can tell you they are not making a lot of money. So for the samosa they make the chapati one by one and prepare the inside stuff (potato, onions and curry), I helped, it takes a few hours. Then they have to put all this together in a samosa like shape. They work from 7:30 to 10pm on this. The next morning around 4, the mom is up, getting the fire going to fry the goodies. Each is K30, so about 20 cents. They make about 200 a night. The mdazi are like a doughnut hole. They make them late in the afternoon normally and fry them the next morning. K10 each, so 6 cents. CRAZY. The kids are selling the snacks at the road block, the market, the bus depot and they change shifts according to the school sessions. Boys in the morning, girls in the afternoon. The mom works around the compound, cleans and cooks, the dad takes care of the main house. I think they are fabulous. Different life than the village life, but really interesting to get to experience this side too. I really appreciate them and they have taken me with them as if I was a daughter or a friend. I try to help and I learn a lot. I pay about 40 $ a month. 

Ill explain in my next blog why I moved and what my new placement will be here, as it will be fairly different. I’m super excited to be part of this project.

That’s it for today. Hope all is good.

Ge

After the rain

I was invited last week by an Italian NGO called Cooperazione Internazional to assist one of their workshop in Lilongwe. It was about risk assessment and management of river flooding in Malawi. The causes, the impact and the mitigation methods were being discussed with a lot of different and important Malawian people from forestry, water, education, wildlife and more. It was really interesting to observe the reflections and discussions that came out of it. I was glad to be part of it, to be in the middle of it; I was intrigued about what refrains the changes and I wanted to understand the background from their perspective. How is the use of charcoal and wood important for cooking and wood also important for construction. How does the cycle of electricity shortage (mostly due to an accumulation of sediments and silt in the Shire River because of deforestation – electricity here in Malawi is hydroelectricity, but the Shire River becomes more and more silty every year due to runoffs it breaks the turbines and affects the flow) affect people’s behaviour and desire to use electricity for cooking instead of charcoal. How is selling and using firewood and charcoal a livelihood for many villagers and changing this part of the equation will take a long time. Breaking the cycle that currently prevents good, affordable, well distributed and reliable (hydro)electricity to more areas and more people is a complex challenge and is just one part of the problem that accentuates the floods in Malawi. Forestry industry and needs is part of the deforestation problem that leads to flooding, but so is over population that leads to change in land use, increasing the number of housing and cropland to provide food for this increasing population. And to make it even more complex, deforestation is only one piece of the puzzle. For things to change and for prevention method to be effective, there needs to be an increase in education and knowledge regarding the issues, a better harmonization of the policies and a more open minded communication between the different parties playing a role. But chances are that things will get worse before they get better, this is part of how change works…unfortunately.

The use of charcoal and firewood to cook combined with the dust and sand in the air leads to health problems like pneumonia, lungs cancers, burns and many more. The health system here is not so efficient and not so good and is often over capacity. But things are about to get worse, real worse. The British government has  removed all aid money and help system from Malawi a few months ago due to major miss alignment between the President of Malawi and an English Diplomat who was living here. The money that was given by the British government was mostly going to buying medicines (legal drugs) for the hospitals and health centers. which means that the government of Malawi now needs to buy the medicines itself, and they need to buy them with for-ex money. Malawi has been facing a lot of problems with the lack of foreign exchange over the last few years: the lack of diesel and petrol being the most known impact and became one of the main reason for the tension and protests that occurred a couple months ago. The President recently decided to momentarily fix the problem to buy time and peace. He took the money (for-ex) that was approved and needed to buy medicines to buy some diesel and petrol…but now the fuel is almost gone and there are no medicines available in most health centers. This means that a lot of people in needs of malaria treatment, pneumonia, cancer and HIV/AIDS treatment will be condemned if nothing is being done. I’m not an expert in this, so this is an oversimplification of the problem and of the situation.

Since I arrived in Malawi, I had many discussions with white Zimbabweans and Zambians who are now living in Malawi or doing business here. Most of them are saying the same alarming thing: this is all the trouble started in their original country, this is how things became really messy and revolt began. The same kind of problems that  Malawi is facing right now have happened in Mozambique, Zambia, then Zimbabwe before and these same problems were the flag, the tip of the iceberg that was coming their way. Through the years of revolt, frustrations and government changes in these countries, many lost their land, their family, their businesses and their dignity. It is pretty intense to hear about those stories, to think that Malawi could be going through many dark and tough years soon. When the balance of things changes, it is hard to fix it and bring it back on track, especially when there is no resources available. So to all of you who are asking me about the situation in Malawi at the moment, I say: I think this is the calm before the storm! I might be wrong, and I’ll be extremely glad to be, but at this point, I have a hard time believing that things will get better in the next few years. Let’s see and hope that it’s not too late to bring Malawi back to equilibrium.

I came here to realize that we, people who grew up in a rich and develop country, live a comfortable, safe and stable life in our own bubble. I came here to help the water and sanitation system, I thought tis was one of the biggest issue and problems Malawians were facing. I thought things here were complicated and difficult, but I would never have thought that they would be this complex. Where do we start, where do we put your energy and how do we focus on one part of the system when there are so many parts that we don’t understand or think about that create distortion and malfunction. I’m shocked, I’m troubled, I’m part of the problem and now too aware to just leave it as it is. Having stayed in Canada, even with my eyes wide open, I would never have felt how I feel now, I’d only see and hear what is being told. I realized that there is a major difference between being an informed, devoted but distant observer and getting your feet in the mud to experience a slight part of other people’s reality. I’m not even close to say I understand this reality and its problems, but I'm saying that I am questioning and slowly discovering the complexity that lies behind it. To fully understand the depth of the situation I’m into would take me way more than year, but this year gives me a perspective that I would never have gotten having only being a tourist passing through here. To be part of the change starts by changing ourselves and the way we think or view things. I know now that I will forever be changed, troubled and thankful for such an amazing experience, but I also know I will forever be looking for ways to get more, to do more, to give more.

Ahhh endearing Africa!

Have a good one my dearest friends

Ge