Museum preserves culture and Malawians

I met Aaron Mulawa and Mike Gondwe in Vancouver, British Columbia. We were delegates at the Interpreting World Heritage Conference. They are from Malawi. Aaron drew a map. His country is on the east side of Africa, and according to Mike, it is about the size of a large North American city such as Vancouver.

Attendees at the conference work at parks, zoos, historic sites, museums and designated World Heritage Sites around the world. Aaron and Mike are heritage interpreters at the Museums of Malawi. Like most museums, their museums display cultural collections, natural history exhibitions, artifacts and art.

In addition to preserving Malawi culture, the museums also are trying to change it. Tradition promotes multiple wives and large families. If a man dies, his wives and children are adopted by his brother, a practice that worked well for centuries. But today more than 14 percent of the population is infected with HIV/AIDs. The country has 550,000 AIDs-related orphans.

Mike says nonprofit organizations rarely reach remote villages, so the museums designed a program they take on the road. They assembled a troupe of performers for Gule Wamkulu, a ritual dance used for decades to teach Malawians morals and values. Through the dance, the museums help villagers embedded in traditional culture embrace new codes of conduct. Drummers and dancers embody animal and human spirits, which share messages of abstinence and single partners and challenge villagers to care for their orphans.

In Malawi, malaria kills even faster than AIDs. Museum singers and dancers visit schools to promote malaria prevention. They help children examine mosquitoes with a magnifying glass that a donor from Canada shipped to the museum. At the end of the lessons, children write poems about mosquito body parts, create dances that depict drying up puddles around their home, and perform skits that show malaria's symptoms and recommend medical treatment in town (even if the traditional healer tells them they are bewitched). Mosquito nets are given as prizes, and although the museum can afford to award only a few to each school, all the students celebrate in their success.

The Museums of Malawi depend on modest grants to fund their outreach projects, though there is not enough money for electricity in the museums. They have no phone, no Internet, and the computer doesn't work. There is no fuel for the museum car, so the museum staff walks to the villages on roads that are mostly nonexistent.

Heritage interpreters strive to educate and illuminate. In their highest cause, they produce change. At facilities around the world, interpretive programs are designed to meet challenges at their parks and nature centers. The Museums of Malawi are working to overcome challenges in their country. Mike and Aaron know it is a noble foundation to preserve culture in glass cases, but they are in a race to preserve their people.

Evelyn Kirkwood is director of the St. Joseph County Parks and Recreation Department in Indiana and host of "Outdoor Elements," broadcast at 5 p.m. Saturdays and 5:30 p.m. Tuesdays on WNIT Television.

Evie Kirkwood:
ekirkwood@sjcparks.org