Africa is a vibrant place. It's full of color and energy. There's a smell that stays with you when you visit -- a mix of dust and smoke and sweat. I bought an African doll for my two-year-old daughter in Arusha, Tanzania, at an open market and it has that smell. You can't escape it.
The first thing you notice is how crowded Africa seems. And that's especially true when you show up with a former president of the United States.
For six days last month, I traveled through four countries in Africa with former President Bill Clinton. We started in South Africa, then traveled to Malawi, Zambia and Tanzania. We were the only television crew on the trip. The other journalists worked for monthly magazines or news wire services.
We journalists had our own plane. We paid for the seats of course -- but the plane itself is owned by a Vancouver, Canada billionaire. President Clinton had his own larger jumbo jet.
Traveling with Clinton is head-spinning. One day I'm meeting Nelson Mandela, the next day I am in a muddy field with a farmer. We're on this luxury jet, but when we drive through towns we witness unthinkable poverty.
And despite the jet, life on the road isn't always glamorous. In Malawi, we spent hours waiting on the tarmac when Bill Clinton's plane had technical problems. Some of my colleagues laid down on the pavement in the middle of the tarmac. There were very few planes coming and going at Chileka International Airport.
It was worth the wait. Eventually, we boarded the only helicopters available in all of Malawi and flew over gorgeous undeveloped countryside. When we landed we saw crowds of thousands. The people who live in this part of rural Malawi have very little. But they literally walked for miles from their homes and waited in the hot sun just in the hopes of meeting Bill Clinton. The whole time we were stuck on that tarmac they were waiting patiently.
Most of them never even got to shake his hand. But it was enough just to catch a glimpse of Clinton's stark white hair.
Saturday, 4 August 2007
Mission to Malawi
MASON CITY — Jason and Ann Willhoite Bell are leaving Mason City Monday to spend two years working at a refugee camp in the African country of Malawi.
Jason, a 1999 graduate of Mason City High School, returned in May from a six-month trip to Kenya, where he worked at another refugee camp through an internship with the United Nations.
This time Jason, 26, will be the project director at the Dzaleka Refugee Camp while Ann, 26, will be the mental health coordinator and counselor. They will be working for the Jesuit Refugee Services.
Jason said the 15,000 refugees at the camp will be from all over the region, which has a history of fighting among ethnic groups. The majority of the refugees are from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda and Burundi.
The camp where he worked in Kenya had 70,00 refugees.
“It’s a really tough situation in both Malawi and Kenya,” he said.
Refugees in those countries aren’t allowed to work, so it is difficult for them to support their families, he said. They are either hoping to return to their home country or go somewhere else “where they have more rights and a better lifestyle,” he said.
In Kenya, Jason helped refugees get to other countries.
In Malawi, he will be coordinating programs such as schools for children and vocational training for adults.
Most refugees have experienced some form of trauma, according to Ann.
“The majority of the women have been raped,” she said.
Those refuges who haven’t been harmed are likely to have seen others being tortured or murdered, according to Ann.
Even within the refugee camp, “life is very hard and it takes its toll,” she said.
Her goal is to “create spaces where people feel safe.”
Ann traveled to Kenya in March to spend a month with her husband.
Jason met Ann, a native of Farmington, Minn., when both were attending Wartburg College.
Jason became interested in refugee work shortly after graduating from Wartburg. He used to help refugees arriving in the Twin Cities.
“I just sort of stumbled into it unexpectedly,” he said.
Jason received his master’s degree from DePaul University in Chicago. Ann received her master’s degree from Northwestern University in Chicago.
They recently moved from Chicago to Mason City, where they have been staying with Jason’s parents, Scott and Chris Bell.
The couple said it was difficult to make the decision to go to Malawi because it means being gone for two years.
No matter what happens, “We don’t have the opportunity to come home at all,” Ann said.
However, “We are looking forward to it,” Jason said.
Jason, a 1999 graduate of Mason City High School, returned in May from a six-month trip to Kenya, where he worked at another refugee camp through an internship with the United Nations.
This time Jason, 26, will be the project director at the Dzaleka Refugee Camp while Ann, 26, will be the mental health coordinator and counselor. They will be working for the Jesuit Refugee Services.
Jason said the 15,000 refugees at the camp will be from all over the region, which has a history of fighting among ethnic groups. The majority of the refugees are from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda and Burundi.
The camp where he worked in Kenya had 70,00 refugees.
“It’s a really tough situation in both Malawi and Kenya,” he said.
Refugees in those countries aren’t allowed to work, so it is difficult for them to support their families, he said. They are either hoping to return to their home country or go somewhere else “where they have more rights and a better lifestyle,” he said.
In Kenya, Jason helped refugees get to other countries.
In Malawi, he will be coordinating programs such as schools for children and vocational training for adults.
Most refugees have experienced some form of trauma, according to Ann.
“The majority of the women have been raped,” she said.
Those refuges who haven’t been harmed are likely to have seen others being tortured or murdered, according to Ann.
Even within the refugee camp, “life is very hard and it takes its toll,” she said.
Her goal is to “create spaces where people feel safe.”
Ann traveled to Kenya in March to spend a month with her husband.
Jason met Ann, a native of Farmington, Minn., when both were attending Wartburg College.
Jason became interested in refugee work shortly after graduating from Wartburg. He used to help refugees arriving in the Twin Cities.
“I just sort of stumbled into it unexpectedly,” he said.
Jason received his master’s degree from DePaul University in Chicago. Ann received her master’s degree from Northwestern University in Chicago.
They recently moved from Chicago to Mason City, where they have been staying with Jason’s parents, Scott and Chris Bell.
The couple said it was difficult to make the decision to go to Malawi because it means being gone for two years.
No matter what happens, “We don’t have the opportunity to come home at all,” Ann said.
However, “We are looking forward to it,” Jason said.
Convicted Malawi MP slapped with suspended sentence
Convicted Malawi Member of Parliament Joseph Njobvuyalema was on Friday slapped with a three-month suspended sentence for assaulting a journalist in Lilongwe six months ago.
The towering Njobvuyalema was convicted on Wednesday for causing bodily harm to Daily Times reporter Dickson Kashoti in February after the MP threw three blows at the diminutive journalist in his newsroom, seriously injuring his eye.
Kashoti angered the MP when he published an item concerning the latter’s brother who had been arrested for allegedly killing his late wife in bed. The MP disputed details of the account, leading to the physical confrontation with the journalist in front of his newsroom colleagues.
The court also ordered the convict to pay K20,000 (US$200) to Kashoti as compensation for harming him.
In sentencing him, Lilongwe magistrate Mzondi Mvula said he took into consideration the opposition MP’s standing in society and the fact that he was a first offender.
Until his conviction, Njobvuyalema was one of the most powerful leaders in the House, where he headed the influential Public Appointments Committee as its chairman.
The position put him in frequent conflict with the presidency, which regarded his conduct as deliberately meant to frustrate senior presidential appointees for the public service.
Njobvuyalema’s rejection of President Bingu wa Mutharika’s appointee to head the Anti-Corruption Bureau was the latest tangle he had with the head of state.
The conviction automatically precludes the MP from parliament for seven years.
The towering Njobvuyalema was convicted on Wednesday for causing bodily harm to Daily Times reporter Dickson Kashoti in February after the MP threw three blows at the diminutive journalist in his newsroom, seriously injuring his eye.
Kashoti angered the MP when he published an item concerning the latter’s brother who had been arrested for allegedly killing his late wife in bed. The MP disputed details of the account, leading to the physical confrontation with the journalist in front of his newsroom colleagues.
The court also ordered the convict to pay K20,000 (US$200) to Kashoti as compensation for harming him.
In sentencing him, Lilongwe magistrate Mzondi Mvula said he took into consideration the opposition MP’s standing in society and the fact that he was a first offender.
Until his conviction, Njobvuyalema was one of the most powerful leaders in the House, where he headed the influential Public Appointments Committee as its chairman.
The position put him in frequent conflict with the presidency, which regarded his conduct as deliberately meant to frustrate senior presidential appointees for the public service.
Njobvuyalema’s rejection of President Bingu wa Mutharika’s appointee to head the Anti-Corruption Bureau was the latest tangle he had with the head of state.
The conviction automatically precludes the MP from parliament for seven years.
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