Out of Africa

Sykes raising money for education in Malawi

Jeff Sykes knows how to stretch a dollar. He totes it to another continent and converts it to 140 kwatchas — the monetary unit of the world’s poorest nation.

The exuberant educator returned to his parents’ Havelock home last month from the African nation of Malawi, where he trains teachers at the Domasi College of Education on an international fellowship. He’s recounting his experiences and asking for donations — $32 will pay a child’s school fees for an entire year, he explains.

“We’re going to send another 25 kids to school,” he said, thanking the Havelock-Cherry Point Rotary Club for a recent contribution. “That’s not going to change the world, but it’s going to make a difference.”

Making a difference is exactly what Sykes set out to do. The Havelock High School graduate earned his bachelor’s in secondary English education from East Carolina University and taught Native American children in North Carolina and New Mexico for 13 years before accepting a fellowship to teach in Africa.

“I’ve always had the goal in mind to teach overseas — especially in Africa,” he said. “I felt directed to teach on the reservations and tribal schools to get an understanding of how cultural identity and academic achievement relate.”

Sykes toured Ghana with the National Endowment for the Humanities and accepted a teaching fellowship with the International Foundation for Education and Self-Help, or IFESH. In January, he arrived in Malawi, a nation marred by poverty and ravaged by HIV/AIDS.

‘Backbone of the culture’

Of the Western world’s various exports to Malawi, gender equality isn’t among them. Sykes explained that Malawan women are subservient to their husbands and fathers in this male-dominated culture, noting that women and girls perform nearly all domestic work and usually aren’t given the chance to attend school.

Girls are tasked with walking from their families’ homes to a borehole, or community well, and retrieving water with galvanized plastic buckets they carry on their heads, he said. They form a long line from 5 to 7 a.m., and the ritual is repeated from 4 to 6 p.m. in the Malawan villages Sykes has observed.

“Women really are the backbone of the culture and the backbone of the community,” he said. “You might say they are underserved, but they are still what’s holding that community together. They’re responsible for most of the work in the family. They’re such strong, beautiful women.”

Sykes said the culture is unlikely to change quickly, but more girls are now able to attend school. He ensures that the donations he receives for school fees will be used to educate girls as well as boys.

Life in Malawi

Native Malawans are black, and the majority are Christian, but Sykes said there is a growing merchant class of Middle Eastern people who brought Islam to the country of 13 million.

“It’s a very religious community,” he said. “One of the first questions everyone will ask in Malawi is, ‘Where do you go to church?’”

He said Christianity and Islam “coexist without turbulence, without friction and without competition,” with mosques sprouting up in more and more Malawan villages.

The native language is Chachewa, and Sykes said about 20 percent of Malawans — the educated class — are proficient in English. In Malawan primary schools, the curriculum is taught in Chachewa until third grade, and students who advance will learn English.

Communities are organized in small villages of several hundred people, and Sykes noted they “seem to be spaced out about five or so miles.”

Sykes said the climate is usually hot, with warm weather 80 percent of the year and a rainy season during the remaining 20 percent. During the rainy season, temperatures can be brisk, and snow forms in the mountains and higher elevations.

“I was very surprised to find out that it gets cold in Malawi,” he said. “I was not prepared for that.”

Poverty and unemployment

Most Malawans live on less than $1 a day, Sykes said, due to the high unemployment rate and difficult nature of daily life in the villages.

“There is not a lot of laziness,” he said. “Malawans want to work, but there is a lack of jobs, a lack of industry. There’s a lot of unemployment, but there are a lot of people who are just working on day-to-day living — getting the water, getting the food, going back and forth to the market.”

Agriculture is the top industry in Malawi, he explained, with many families growing corn and other crops on small subsistence farms.

Most Malawans walk or ride bicycles, while those with more money can afford fare to ride the minibus. Sykes said only the wealthiest Malawans can afford a motorcycle or car.

“There’s a constant flow of people walking to and from the market on the side of the road,” he said. “People can work their whole life in a whole variety of jobs and they’ll never afford a car. They’ll never come close.”

Sykes said about 80 percent of people in Malawi walk barefoot because they can’t afford shoes.

A devastating disease

About one in three people in Malawi have the human immunodeficiency virus or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, which results from the virus. Sykes said 55 percent of those with HIV or AIDS are women.

Half of Malawi’s 13 million people are under the age of 14 due to the low life expectancy, which has dropped about one year every year since 2002. A child born in Malawi today will live an average of 37.8 years, Sykes said.

“I’m 37 years old today, and I still feel like a young man,” he said.

Most Malawans can’t afford the antiretroviral medication to treat HIV, which is available for 500 kwatcha, or about $3.60, per month, he said.

“If you have access to the drugs, HIV/AIDS is not a death sentence,” Sykes explained. “You can still go on.”

One man’s mission

Sykes’ parents, Marion and Gwen Sykes, have opened a bank account for contributions to Malawi that will be used to pay children’s school fees and buy HIV/AIDS medication for those afflicted with the disease.

He pledges to give 100 percent of all contributions to Malawan causes.

“There are no administrative fees,” he said. “There is no director. It’s going to go to individuals in Malawi. For a very small amount, you can make a world of difference for someone else.”

Local groups have offered their support, with the Havelock-Cherry Point Rotary sponsoring about 25 students and the Havelock Civitan Club contributing nearly $1,000 split between a club contribution and donations from individual members.

Craven Community College is collecting books to send to Malawi for use at Domasi College where Sykes teaches.

The global-minded educator isn’t affiliated with a nonprofit group or nongovernmental organization, but he promises that he will account for every dollar — and every kwatcha — he receives for his work in Malawi.

“As of right now, I’m not a nonprofit. I’m not an NGO. My name is Jeff Sykes,” he said. “I will give you a report, and I will let you know how the money you donate is spent. That’s my responsibility.”